ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Ecotec

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which projects run by the consultancy Ecotec his Department has funded since 1997; and what the  (a) cost and  (b) objective was of each project.

Barry Gardiner: The Department came into being in June 2001. From information held centrally the core-Department has spent the following sums with Ecotec:
	
		
			   £ 
			  Financial year  Expenditure 
			 2002-03 2,996.25 
			 2003-04 — 
			 2004-05 24,918.00 
			 2005-06 8,234.73 
			 2006-07(1) 751.37 
			 (1) First six months 
		
	
	The money has been spent on a study concerned with price elasticity of demand for nutrients; an evaluation of objective 1; and environmental stewardship workshops and training.

Endangered Species

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many species were  (a) put on and  (b) taken off the endangered species list in each of the last 10 years.

Barry Gardiner: I am unsure to which list the hon. Member's question refers. Various lists of endangered species exist, including the World Conservation Union (or IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Species Status Assessment project and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended).
	These lists are extremely fluid so the information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Farmers: Stewardship Schemes

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers are in  (a) entry level stewardship schemes and  (b) higher level stewardship schemes; how many in each scheme (i) received payment on the due date and (ii) are awaiting payment; and what assessment he has made of the reasons for delays in payment for each scheme.

Barry Gardiner: The number of farmers with agreements under entry level stewardship and higher level stewardship is as follows:
	 (a) Entry level stewardship—26,482;
	 (b) Higher level stewardship—1,168.
	The number of payments made by the due date and the number awaiting payment are as follows:
	 ELS
	(i) Paid by the due date—30,427;
	(ii) Awaiting payment—683.
	 HLS
	(i) Paid by the due date—557;
	(ii) Awaiting payment—7.
	Where a payment is still outstanding, this will usually be because there is a flag on the IT system which is preventing it from being processed. There are a number of reasons why this might be the case. For example, there may be outstanding issues arising from a compliance monitoring inspection or from cross-checks against land parcel data held on the rural land register, both of which we are required to carry out in order to demonstrate our ability to comply with EC Regulations. Delays may also be caused by one of a number of IT-related problems such as the agreement being under amendment, data integrity issues or invalid agreement holder details. However, in all these circumstances, officials make every effort to resolve the issues delaying payments as quickly as possible.

Foie Gras

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will take steps to ban the  (a) sale and  (b) importation of foie gras; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: Banning the sale and importation of foie gras will be illegal under the treaty of Rome, which requires member states of the European Union to allow free circulation of goods. However, we do believe that the production of foie gras using force-feeding gives rise to serious welfare concerns.
	The most effective action is for individuals not to buy foie gras if they dislike the way it is produced. We hope that public pressure will contribute to an end to this practice.

Poultry: Animal Welfare

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether the Government remain committed to the 2012 deadline for the prohibition of battery cages in the UK.

Ben Bradshaw: Yes, the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 ban the use of conventional cages from 1 January 2012.

Radioactive Waste Management

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what  (a) correspondence and  (b) other communications (i) he, (ii) other ministers and (iii) officials had with the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) on CoRWM recommendation 2 (1), on the security vulnerability of above ground nuclear waste stores against terrorist threats, before preparing the reply to this recommendation published in the Reponse to the Report and Recommendations from the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) by the UK Government and the devolved administrations on 25 October 2006.

Ian Pearson: The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) delivered its recommendations on 31 July 2006. The Government and devolved Administrations responded on 25 October.
	In formulating the response, DEFRA consulted other Government Departments, the devolved Administrations and the independent environment and nuclear safety regulators. There was no correspondence or other communications between the Government and CoRWM on recommendation 2 (1) during this time.
	As our response states, the security of all stores is of paramount importance. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's contractors are regulated and advised by the Office for Civil Nuclear Security and already take account of such matters. These include the design and engineering of new stores and the refurbishment of existing ones in the light of the risks to the security of their contents, now and in the future. This includes, but is not limited to, the vulnerability of the waste form and the degree of protection provided against attack.

Radioactive Waste Management

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when he expects to advertise for applicants for the new Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

Ian Pearson: We are keen to continue to build on the momentum that the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) has helped to establish and expect to advertise for applicants for the reconstituted CoRWM shortly. I will write to the hon. Member alerting him to the advert when it is published.

Seas and Oceans: Climate Change

Phil Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership report; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: On 29 November, I launched the first annual report card (ARC) of the Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP), the first ever holistic assessment of the impacts of climate change on UK seas. It shows us, at a glance, the latest knowledge of climate impacts on marine sectors. This is an important wake-up call to us all on the dangers faced by our greatest natural resource.
	The ARC has been delivered to all Government Departments and agencies, and copies have been placed in the Library of the House. It is important that this work is considered in developing policy across Government.
	Though the ARC has only recently been released, over 10,000 copies have been downloaded from the website, 5,000 hard copies have been distributed, and more copies are being printed to meet demand. A report on the impact of the ARC on policy developments will be produced at the time of its annual review.

Single Farm Payments

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for what reasons the way in which farmers' fields were identified and set out in information supplied for the purposes of the single farm payment scheme has been changed in comparison to previous years.

Barry Gardiner: For both 2005 and 2006 Single Payment Schemes (SPS), individual parcel data were pre-populated on application forms, where possible, but in slightly different formats reflecting the manner in which the data were extracted from the Rural Land Register. For the 2007 SPS, the pre-population of forms is expected to be more extensive and will follow a format that stakeholders have agreed will be the most user-friendly for applicants.

SOLICITOR-GENERAL

Electoral Malpractice

Oliver Heald: To ask the Solicitor-General how many cases of electoral malpractice were reported by the police to the Crown Prosecution Service in each year since the introduction of the Representation of the People Act 2000.

Mike O'Brien: Electoral malpractice is not a category for which data are available. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) records files received under the classification 'election offences'. The relevant figures are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2001 57 
			 2002 51 
			 2003 70 
			 2004 55 
			 2005 65 
			 2006 38 
			 Total 336 
		
	
	Other electoral malpractice allegations have been prosecuted as conspiracy to defraud, forgery and perjury and are not captured in these data. Identifying all cases amounting to electoral malpractice could be done only at disproportionate cost (Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, part 2, clause 9).

Serious Fraud Office

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Solicitor-General what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Serious Fraud Office to detect and investigate financial crime; and if he will make a statement.

Mike O'Brien: holding answer 1 February 2007
	Detecting fraud is not within the remit of the Serious Fraud Office. Cases are generally referred to the SFO by investigating authorities. The SFO does not have to accept all cases that are referred to it.
	The SFO today has greater capacity than at any time in its history. It has more staff, world leading IT systems, excellent forensic services and thorough case management processes.
	The SFO has strong working relationships with the City of London police, other police forces and criminal justice system partners in the UK and abroad.

Serious Fraud Office

Simon Hughes: To ask the Solicitor-General how many investigations were begun by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in each year since 1996; how many such investigations were completed by the SFO and followed by an  (a) successful and  (b) unsuccessful prosecution; and how many such investigations were discontinued before they were completed.

Mike O'Brien: The following number represents cases begun in the financial year indicated and they are split into four categories:
	A = Case prosecuted resulting in one or more convictions.
	B = Case prosecuted resulting in no convictions (including dismissed cases).
	C = Investigation initiated but case not prosecuted.
	D = Case still live (either being investigated or proceedings under way).
	
		
			  Financial year  A  B  C  D 
			 1996-97 16 3 14 0 
			 1997-98 9 3 7 0 
			 1998-99 11 1 4 1 
			 1999-2000 14 5 9 0 
			 2000-01 11 2 6 3 
			 2001-02 5 1 7 9 
			 2002-03 6 2 2 3 
			 2003-04 1 0 4 7 
			 2004-05 0 0 11 12 
			 2005-06 3 0 3 15

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Iraq: International Assistance

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development 
	(1)  in how many locations in Iraq the World Food Programme has dispersed food in each of the last three years;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of people in Iraq who have received food aid as a result of the UK's contribution to the World Food Programme in each year since 2003.

Hilary Benn: In 2003-04, we contributed £28 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to help guarantee the distribution of monthly food entitlements to the Iraqi population. During 2003, WFP support of Iraqi led public distribution system procured and distributed 2.1 million metric tons of food, 750,000 of which was through donor contributions; 41,000 from the UK. This reached nearly 27 million people in all 18 governorates of Iraq.
	In addition, we have contributed £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, of which £30 million was used by the UN Trust Fund to provide funding to UN agencies, including the WFP's core programmes.

Iraq: Overseas Aid

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate he has made of the number of children in Iraq who have received immunisations in each year since 2003 as a result of British aid money given to the United Nations Children's Fund.

Hilary Benn: In 2003-2004 we contributed £3.2 million to support UNICEF's emergency immunisation programmes in Iraq. By June 2003, immunisation services were available in all districts, and post war, more than 750,000 children under five years were vaccinated in catch-up campaigns. Funds enabled health teams to trace 34,000 immunisation drop-out children in Basra, Dhi Qar and Muthanna governorates. This helped UNICEF to prevent an outbreak of measles across Southern Iraq towards the end of 2003.
	In addition, we have contributed £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, of which £30 million was used by the UN Trust Fund to provide funding to UN agencies, including UNICEF's core programmes. Since 2003, UNICEF programmes (undertaken by the Iraq Ministry of Health with the assistance of US AID and WHO) have supported eight immunisation rounds, with each covering on average 4.7 million children under five years of age. Measles control activities have also been effectively implemented, with a 91 per cent. reduction in reported cases in 2005 and the first seven months of 2006 compared with 2004. Iraq is polio free for the sixth consecutive year.
	Immunisation coverage in Iraq rose from 60 per cent. in 2003 to 83 per cent. in 2005, largely owing to UNICEF (and World Health Organisation) programmes. Figures are not available for the numbers of children vaccinated on an annual basis.

Iraq: Overseas Aid

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department has channelled through the  (a) Red Cross,  (b) World Food Programme,  (c) United Nations Children's Fund and  (d) World Health Organisation to be spent in Iraq in each year since 2003.

Hilary Benn: We have channelled the following contributions to the Red Cross, World Food Programme, United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation for Iraq:
	
		
			  £ 
			   2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07 
			 International Red Cross 500,000 17,500,000 10,000,000 4,000,000 4,000,000 
			 World Food Programme 2,000,000 31,000,000 — — — 
			 UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2,000,000 13,835,187 — — — 
			 World Health Organisation (WHO) 1,000,000 5,000,000 — — — 
		
	
	In 2004, we also contributed £30 million to the United Nations International Trust Fund for Iraq.

Iraq: Refugees

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many Iraqi refugees there are in  (a) Egypt,  (b) Lebanon and  (c) each state bordering Iraq; how much the Government have allocated for assisting these refugees in 2006-07; if the Government will increase the money allocated for this purpose; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: We are very concerned at the increasing numbers of people displaced owing to sectarian violence in Iraq.
	UNHCR estimates the total number of Iraqi refugees living in neighbouring countries to have risen to 1.8 million, including 25,000 to 40,000 in Lebanon, 700,000 in Jordan, up to 1,000,000 in Syria, 100,000 in Egypt, 16,000 in Turkey and 54,000 in Iran. UNHCR reporting does not give estimates for Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
	We recently announced a £4 million contribution to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to provide emergency assistance—including water, medical supplies and rehabilitation of health infrastructure for vulnerable people, including internally displaced people (IDPs) inside Iraq. We are also considering UNHCR's appeal, which includes help to refugees in neighbouring countries. This brings our total humanitarian contribution for Iraq to over £120 million since 2003. Additionally, DFID provided £70 million to the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI), which provides support to internally displaced persons through UN agencies.
	Above all the first priority of the Iraqi Government must be to end the violence that is causing this situation, with the support of the international community and the region.

PRIME MINISTER

Lord Levy

Shailesh Vara: To ask the Prime Minister on what dates he met Lord Levy, his personal representative to the Middle East, in the last six months; and what was discussed at each meeting.

Tony Blair: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) on 14 July 2006,  Official Report, column 2093W.

Mohammed Dahlan

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions since 2004  (a) he and  (b) officials in his Department met Mohammed Dahlan; and where and when each meeting took place.

Tony Blair: During my visit to the middle east in December 2006 Mohammed Dahlan took part in a meeting I held with President Abbas and other senior Palestinian officials. Officials from my Office also met Mr. Dahlan in London in April 2004, and in Ramallah in January 2005.
	I also refer my hon. Friend to the press conference I held with President Abbas on 18 December 2006 (http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Pagel0648.asp). A transcript of this is available on the No. 10 website and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Future Business

Jo Swinson: To ask the Leader of the House if he will ask the Select Committee on the Modernisation of the House to consider the merits of publishing the provisional business of the House more than two weeks in advance.

Nigel Griffiths: My right hon. Friend the Leader of the House, who chairs the Modernisation Committee, has no plans to ask the Committee to look at this matter. The period of notice for the announcement of future business was extended from one week to two weeks in 1995. It would be difficult to give longer notice than this.

Parliamentary Questions

Peter Bone: To ask the Leader of the House if he will bring forward proposals for part of each oral question session to be made available for questions without notice.

Nigel Griffiths: This is an idea of which my right hon. Friend is aware and on which he is happy to consider representations, as on other matters. I know that the Procedure Committee has also given some attention to this issue and the hon. Member might wish to write to the right hon. Member for East Yorkshire (Mr. Knight) who chairs that Committee. There are no current plans to bring forward proposals.

Lords Reform

Bob Spink: To ask the Leader of the House what recent progress he has made towards a consensus on proposals for House of Lords reform.

Jack Straw: I have been working with colleagues in all parts of both Houses over recent months as part of an intensive effort to reach a consensus on how a future House of Lords may look. I intend to bring forward a White Paper very soon, setting out the Government's proposals on composition and transition, which will take account of the recent Joint Committee on Conventions report and Parliament's response, and the on-going cross-party discussions. A free vote in both Houses on the composition of the House will then follow.

Boundary Commission

Andrew MacKay: To ask the Leader of the House when he expects the orders to implement the Boundary Commission proposals to be laid before the House.

Jack Straw: I expect them to be laid on 26 February 2007.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Bicycle Parking

Mary Creagh: To ask the hon. Member for North Devon, representing the House of Commons Commission, what progress is being made in providing further bicycle parking for visitors and staff on the House of Commons part of the parliamentary estate.

Nick Harvey: Discussions have taken place during the last 12 months between Metropolitan police representatives, outside security advisers and Westminster city council regarding the possibility of providing bicycle parking on the House of Commons part of the estate for visitors. It has been decided that the provision of parking on the estate for non-passholders is not currently compatible with maintaining a secure perimeter. Further discussions have taken place regarding the provision of additional bicycle parking outside in the vicinity of the estate encouraged by the All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group. It is hoped that additional bicycle racks will be provided during the current financial year.
	There are sufficient facilities to meet present demand from passholders to park their bicycles on the estate and the availability of bicycle parking spaces is kept under constant review. Last summer an exercise was undertaken to rid the cycle racks of abandoned and unused cycles.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Biometric Technologies

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he plans to published updated guidance to schools on the use of biometric technologies.

Jim Knight: holding answer 22 January 2007
	The Department is working with the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency which is revising its current guidance on data protection to include specific guidance on biometric technology. Becta aims to make the guidance available on its website by the end of March 2007 after consultation with the Information Commissioner's Office.

Child Protection

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned on the use of child protection registers.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 30 January 2007
	No research has been commissioned by the Department for Education and Skills specifically on the use of child protection registers, although some parts of the Safeguarding Children research initiative are likely to touch on the use of child protection registers and Child Protection Plans.

Departmental Staff

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department's annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis; and how much of this budget has been used in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Alan Johnson: The Department for Education and Skills does not hold centrally set annual budgets for employing workers on a consultancy basis. Consultancy costs are met from the wider budgets for the services or programmes to which they contribute. However, the Department spent the following sums from administration costs on consultancy in the last five years:
	
		
			   Amount (£ million) 
			 2001-02 5.0 
			 2002-03 4.0 
			 2003-04 4.7 
			 2004-05 3.9 
			 2005-06 3.5 
		
	
	The costs of consultancy charged to programmes budgets before November 2004 were not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The total cost of consultancy charged to programmes from November 2004 to March 2005 was £4.4 million and for the whole of 2005-06 was £18 million. A further £9.5 million in November 2004 to March 2005 and £8 million in 2005-06 was spent on other external expert advisers on education and children's matters to assist with policy implementation and delivery.

Education Funding: Chorley

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much central Government allocated for education in Chorley's local authority area in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Jim Knight: The Chorley constituency falls within the local authority area of Lancashire and the information supplied is the level of funding which applies to all of Lancashire. In 2006-07 Lancashire local authority received a Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation of £606.9 million and revenue grants of £114.9 million—a total of £721.8 million to fund the education of nursery, primary and secondary school aged pupils.
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) took responsibility for funding of school sixth forms in April 2002. In 2006-07, the total funding allocation for school sixth forms in Lancashire local authority was £25.2 million.
	The LSC is responsible for funding post-16 education and training more widely, so in addition to the funding for school sixth forms the LSC also funds colleges and other providers to deliver further education and training to young people and adults in the Lancashire local authority area. This can include funding the local authority itself when it is offering FE provision in line with Government priorities. My Department does not hold information on individual providers' funding allocations, however funding allocations for 2005/06 can be found at the following link:
	http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/2005/funding/streams/fe-2005-06-allocations-at-26-july.xls
	A copy of this document has been placed in the House Library.

Education Funding: Romford

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been made available from his Department to  (a) (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools and  (b) sixth forms and colleges within Romford constituency in 2006-07; and what central Government guidelines govern the distribution of these funds.

Jim Knight: The Romford constituency falls within the local authority of Havering and the information supplied is the level of funding which applies to all of Havering. In 2006-07 for Havering local authority, the Department allocated a Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) of £133.8 million and revenue grants of £22.8 million, totalling £156.6 million to fund education in the area. As the DSG is a mechanism for distributing funding, it is not possible to split the DSG allocation between primary and secondary schools.
	The 2006-07 DSG figure is not on the same basis as the £160.2 million that Havering received in 2005-06 under Education Formula Spending plus revenue grants.
	It is for Havering—in consultation with its school forum—to distribute its DSG and Standards Fund grants to the schools it maintains. However, it is expected that local authorities will take account of the priorities that Ministers identified within the DSG envelope (personalised learning at Key Stage 3, personalised learning in primary schools, more practical learning options for pupils aged 14 to 16, implementing planning, preparation and assessment in primary schools and increased entitlement to free early years provision). The distribution of School Standards Grant and School Standards Grant (Personalisation) is determined centrally and set out in the conditions of grant.
	Guidelines for the distribution of the DSG are contained in the Department's Technical Note and the "Setting School Budgets 2006-07 and 2007-08: guidance note for LAs and School Forums".
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) took responsibility for funding of school sixth forms in April 2002. In 2006/07, the total funding allocation for schools sixth forms in Havering local authority was £6.4 million.
	The LSC is responsible for funding post-16 education and training more widely, so in addition to the funding for school sixth forms the LSC funds colleges and other providers to deliver further education and training to young people and adults in the Havering local authority area. The Department does not hold information on individual providers' funding allocations, but funding allocations for 2005/06 can be found at the following link:
	http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/2005/funding/streams/fe-2005-06-allocations-at-26-july.xls
	A copy of this document has been placed in the House Library.
	In October 2005 we set out our post-16 funding strategy for 2006-07 and 2007-08 in "Priorities for Success" which was published by the LSC. The strategy clearly set out our funding priorities, which included supporting higher participation among young people and helping disadvantaged adults to gain basic and Level 2 employability skills. The strategy was updated in the LSC's Annual Statement of Priorities, published in October 2006.

Educational Psychologist Referrals

Crispin Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the Government's policy is on the maximum acceptable waiting time for pupils between being referred to and being seen by an educational psychologist.

Jim Knight: The Department's Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001) provides practical guidance to local authorities, maintained schools, early education settings and others on carrying out their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children with special educational needs (SEN).
	Regulations set out the time limits within which the various parts of the process of making statutory assessments and drawing up statements of SEN must be conducted. The Code of Practice makes clear that it is in the interests of all concerned that statutory assessments should be carried out in a timely manner. It is therefore important that each part of that process is conducted with all reasonable speed. This would include input from educational psychologists (EPs).
	We would expect this general principle to apply to other areas of EPs' work but the detailed management and deployment of EPs are matters for local authorities as employers.

Free School Meals

Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of students on the Gifted and Talented programme in  (a) Leicester and  (b) Leicestershire receive free school meals.

Jim Knight: The available information is given in the following table.
	
		
			  Number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals who are on the gifted and talented programme( 1,2) , January 2006 
			  
			   All pupils  Pupils on the gifted and talented programme 
			  Local authority area  Total pupils( 2)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals  Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals( 3)  Total pupils( 2)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals  Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals( 4) 
			 Leicestershire 46,792 2,629 5.6 5,402 108 2.0 
			 Leicester 17,898 3,939 22.0 1,646 201 12.2 
			 (1) Includes pupils attending maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies including middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. (3) Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals expressed as a percentage of number (headcount) of all pupils. (4) Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals expressed as a percentage of number (headcount) of pupils on the gifted and talented programme.  Source: Schools Census

GCSEs

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what percentage of pupils in  (a) England,  (b) the North East,  (c) the Tees Valley and  (d) the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency achieved more than five A-C grades at GCSE in each year since 1997;
	(2)  what percentage of pupils in  (a) England,  (b) the North East,  (c) the Tees Valley and  (d) the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency achieved more than five GCSE passes in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The information requested is in the following tables:
	
		
			  Proportion of 15 year olds achieving 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C, 1996/97 to 2005/06( 1, 2, 3) 
			   Constituency  Tees Valley local authorities  Region  National 
			   Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland  Hartlepool  Middlesbrough  Redcar and Cleveland  Stockton on Tees  Darlington  North East  England 
			 1996/97 36.6 29.1 28.5 38.4 39.1 37.5 36.8 45.1 
			 1997/98 36.6 34.6 27.5 38.8 40.0 37.1 37.1 46.3 
			 1998/99 41.4 38.8 31.0 44.6 41.3 42.9 39.4 47.9 
			 1999/2000 43.1 35.7 34.6 45.6 43.7 45.0 41.7 49.2 
			 2000/01 42.2 40.4 35.0 43.4 44.8 47.2 42.5 50.0 
			 2001/02 43.3 42.0 35.8 48.6 46.1 48.7 44.3 51.6 
			 2002/03 42.1 46.0 38.8 47.0 47.1 51.0 46.8 52.9 
			 2003/04 43.6 48.6 40.8 49.0 45.8 49.0 48.7 53.7 
			 2004/05 48.5 51.8 45.2 48.2 54.8 56.7 53.5 56.3 
			 2005/06 47.5 57.5 48.9 50.3 55.3 57.9 57.4 59.2 
		
	
	
		
			  Proportion of 15 year olds achieving 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-G, 1996/97 to 2005/06( 1, 2 ,3) 
			   Constituency  Tees Valley local authorities  Region  National 
			   Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland  Hartlepool  Middlesbrough  Redcar and Cleveland  Stockton on Tees  Darlington  North East  England 
			 1996/97 84.7 80.9 77.1 84.7 85.0 85.4 83.8 86.4 
			 1997/98 86.5 86.1 77.4 86.0 84.3 83.8 85.6 87.5 
			 1998/99 88.7 86.5 80.8 87.9 88.3 87.8 87.1 88.5 
			 1999/2000 90.7 86.1 83.4 89.9 90.3 89.8 88.0 88.9 
			 2000/01 89.4 87.5 85.5 89.6 91.6 90.2 88.2 88.9 
			 2001/02 85.3 88.6 82.5 89.3 90.0 89.6 88.0 88.9 
			 2002/03 85.5 89.4 82.8 89.4 88.2 89.5 87.8 88.8 
			 2003/04 88.2 87.5 83.1 89.8 88.5 89.4 87.9 88.8 
			 2004/05 86.7 89.7 83.0 88.9 88.2 87.1 88.0 89.0 
			 2005/06 88.7 90.7 82.4 90.9 90.2 88.5 89.1 90.5 
			 (1) From 2003/04, percentages include GCSEs and equivalents approved for use pre-16. (2) Percentages in 2005/06 are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (3 )Figures for 2005/06 are revised; all other figures are final.

GCSEs

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of pupils in maintained schools were not entered for a GCSE in  (a) mathematics,  (b) English and  (c) science in each year since 1997.

Jim Knight: The following table shows the number and percentage of 15-year-old pupils(1) in maintained schools(2) who did not attempt a GCSE in the subjects listed.
	
		
			  No GCSE attempts of 15-year-old pupils( 1)  in maintained schools( 2)  by subject 
			   Number  Percentage 
			   English  Maths  Science  English  Maths  Science 
			 1997 43,850 43,768 44,702 8.2 8.1 8.3 
			 1998 45,517 39,373 42,492 8.6 7.5 8.1 
			 1999 40,948 34,970 39,539 7.7 6.6 7.4 
			 2000 38,609 32,545 38,480 7.2 6.1 7.2 
			 2001 42,840 35,018 43,255 7.7 6.3 7.7 
			 2002 36,871 28,914 38,013 6.6 5.2 6.8 
			 2003 36,101 30,080 42,947 6.2 5.2 7.4 
			 2004 35,145 28,635 52,683 5.9 4.8 8.8 
			 2005 28,610 21,938 43,939 4.9 3.7 7.4 
			 2006 26,686 20,398 45,252 4.4 3.4 7.5 
			 (1) Pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).  (2) Includes community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, foundation schools, city technology colleges, academies, community special schools, foundation special schools, hospital schools and pupil referral units.

General Certificate of Secondary Education: Standards

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in England achieved five A to C grade GCSEs including mathematics and English for less than 20 per cent. of their students in 2006; and which such schools are in each local education authority in Tyne and Wear, Durham and Northumberland.

Jim Knight: Revised figures show that 276 maintained mainstream schools published in the 2006 Secondary School Achievement and Attainment tables had less than 20 per cent. of their pupils aged 15 achieving five plus A*-C including English and maths in 2006. The schools from this group that are in Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland local authorities are in the following table. There were no schools within this group in Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead local authorities.
	
		
			  Local authority  School name  Percentage of pupils aged 15 achieving 5+A*-C including English and maths 2006 
			 Durham Sunnydale Community College for Maths and Computing 12 
			
			 Newcastle upon Tyne West Gate Community College 12 
			  All Saints College 14 
			
			 Sunderland Pennywell School 9 
			  Hylton Red House School 15

History Teachers

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  how many  (a) male and  (b) female secondary school history teachers there are in England;
	(2)  what the average age is of secondary school history teachers in England;
	(3)  how many teachers teaching secondary school classes in history in England hold a degree in history.

Jim Knight: Information for the number of maintained secondary school history teachers in England is not available by gender.
	Table 1 provides the number of full-time teachers by age and subject of highest post A level qualification.
	Table 2 provides the number of full-time teachers employed in maintained secondary schools by the highest post A level qualification held in the subjects that they teach to year groups 7-13 in November 2002. This is the latest information available.
	
		
			  Table 1: Full-time teachers: age by subject of highest post A level qualification 
			   History  All subjects 
			  Age as at November  Percentage   Confidence intervals  Percentage   Confidence intervals 
			 Under 30 19 ± 3 20 ± 1 
			 30-39 23 ± 3 24 ± 1 
			 40-49 27 ± 4 29 ± 1 
			 50 or over 30 ± 4 27 ± 1 
			  Source:  Secondary School Curriculum And Staffing Survey, November 2002. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Teachers in service: Full-time teachers in maintained secondary schools—highest post A level qualification( 1)  held in the subjects they teach( 2 ) to year groups 7-13, England 
			   Percentage 
			   Degree( 3)  BEd  PGCE  CertEd  Other Qual.  No Qual.  Total teachers (Thousand) 
			 Mathematics 42 ± 3 15 ± 2 9 ± 2 7 ± 1 2 ± 1 24 ± 2 28.2 
			 English 51 ± 3 15 ± 2 7 ± 1 6 ± 1 1 ± 1 20 ± 2 29.4 
			 
			 Combined/general science 62 ± 3 12 ± 2 10 ± 2 4 ± 1 1 ± 1 11 ± 2 28.3 
			 Biology(4) 71 ± 5 7± 3 11 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± 1 7 ± 3 5.6 
			 Chemistry(4) 72 ± 5 6 ± 3 12 ± 4 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 7 ± 3 5.2 
			 Physics(4) 63 ± 6 11 ± 4 15 ± 4 3 ± 2 - ± - 8 ± 3 4.7 
			 Other sciences(4) 10 ± 6 4 ± 4 5 ± 4 - ± - - ± - 80 ± 8 1.6 
			 
			 French 54 ± 3 7 ± 2 10 ± 2 3 ± 1 2 ± 1 23 ± 3 16.0 
			 German 47 ± 5 6 ± 3 13 ± 4 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 30 ± 5 6.9 
			 Spanish 37 ± 7 8 ± 4 19 ± 6 - ± - 3 ± 2 33 ± 7 3.6 
			 Other modern languages 18 ± 8 - ± - 9 ± 7 - ± - 3 ± 4 71 ± 10 1.4 
			 
			 Design and technology(5) 26 ± 3 20 ± 3 7 ± 2 21 ± 3 2 ± 1 24 ± 3 20.9 
			 ICT(5, 6) 13 ± 2 6 ± 1 8 ± 2 2 ± 1 3 ± 1 69 ± 3 18.9 
			 Other/combined technology(5) 30 ± 10 13 ± 8 16 ± 7 18 ± 9 2 ± 3 20 ± 9 1.6 
			 
			 Business studies 30 ± 5 11 ± 4 9 ± 3 4 ± 2 3 ± 2 43 ± 5 6.5 
			 Classics 33 ± 7 - ± - 2 ± 4 2 ± - - ± - 63 ± 7 1.0 
			 History 57± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 6 ± 2 - ± - 23 ± 3 13.7 
			 Religious education 22 ± 3 8 ± 2 8 ± 2 4 ± 1 2 ± 1 57 ± 4 14.2 
			 Geography 53 ± 4 9 ± 2 6 ± 2 5 ± 2 1 ± 1 25 ± 3 13.7 
			 Other social studies 35 ± 5 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 2 ± 1 - ± 1 54 ± 6 4.9 
			 Combined arts/humanities/social studies 5 ± 3 4 ± 2 7 ± 3 1 ± 1 1 ± 1 83 ± 5 5.3 
			 
			 Music 59 ± 5 15 ± 4 5 ± 2 6 ± 3 2 ± 2 13 ± 4 6.3 
			 Drama 25± 4 10 ± 3 12 ± 3 6 ± 2 2 ± 1 45 ± 5 8.1 
			 Art and design 54 ± 4 10 ± 3 7 ± 2 9 ± 3 1 ± 1 20 ± 4 9.3 
			 Physical education 25 ± 3 31 ± 3 6 ± 2 13 ± 2 2 ± 1 22 ± 2 21.4 
			 Careers education 2 ± 2 1± 2 3 ± 3 4 ± 4 3 ± 4 87 ± 7 1.5 
			 PSHE(6) 1 ± - 1 ± - 2 ± 1 1 ± - - ± - 95 ± 1 61.4 
			 General studies 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 95 ± 2 7.1 
			 Citizenship 2 ± 1 1 ± 1 2 ± 1 - ± 1 - ± - 94 ± 2 9.0 
			 Other — — — — — — 32.8 
			 
			 Total(2, 7) 33 ± - 10 ± - 7 ± - 5 ± - 1 ± - 44 ± - 388.4 
			 ('-') = Zero or less than 0.5.  (1) Where a teacher has more than one post A level qualification in the same subject, the qualification level is determined by the highest level reading from left (Degree) to right (Other qualification). For example, teachers shown under PGCE have a PGCE but not a degree or BEd in the subject, while those with a PGCE and a degree are shown only under Degree.  (2) Teachers are counted once against each subject which they are teaching.  (3) Includes higher degrees but excludes BEds.  (4) Teachers qualified in combined/general science are treated as qualified to teach biology, chemistry, or physics. Teachers qualified in biology, chemistry or physics are treated as qualified to teach combined/general science.  (5) Teachers qualified in other/combined technology are treated as qualified to teach design and technology or information and communication technology. Teachers qualified in design and technology or information and communication technology are treated as qualified to teach other/combined technology.  (6) Information and communication technology is abbreviated as ICT and personal social and health education is abbreviated as PSHE.  (7) "Other" not included in total percentages.  Source:  Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey 2002.

Looked-after Children

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of looked-after children who were reported missing in 2006.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 29 January 2007
	The estimated number of looked-after children who were reported missing in 2005-06 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Children looked after who were reported missing in the year ending 31 March 2006( 1,2) —England 
			   2005-06 
			  Placement  Number  Percentage 
			 All children missing from placement 1,000 100 
			
			 In refuge (section 51 of Children Act) 10 0 
			 Whereabouts known (not in refuge) 210 20 
			 Whereabouts unknown 820 79 
			 (1) Source—SSDA903 (2) To maintain the confidentiality of each individual child, data at national level are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 to the nearest 10 otherwise.  Note: Due to rounding percentages do not add up to 100.

Music

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps have been taken to improve music programmes within secondary schools in 2006-07; and what funding has been allocated to that purpose for  (a) 2006-07 and  (b) 2007-08.

Jim Knight: In 2006-07 support has been given to two projects which help secondary teachers to focus on engaging pupils in their musical learning and so raise standards. These projects are the Secondary Strategy's Key Stage 3 music professional development programme, which received £255,000 of funding support, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Musical Futures project, which received £145,000 of support.
	At the request of Government, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is carrying out a review of the secondary curriculum to reduce prescription, improve coherence and create further opportunities for schools to meet the needs of all their pupils. This will build on the increased engagement created by the above projects. A formal consultation on the new secondary curriculum will begin on 5 February 2007. Revised programmes of study will be available to schools for planning purposes in September 2007, with implementation beginning in September 2008.
	In total we have invested over £500 million in music education between 1999 and 2008 and £95 million will be invested in 2007-08 alone, which includes £10 million primarily to boost school singing. The focus of this funding has been on improving access to instrumental and vocal tuition for primary school pupils, which evidence shows to be the time to make the greatest impact on musical take-up. In the future secondary school pupils will have benefited from the £10 million investment in primary schools announced earlier this month.

Office for Fair Access

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual budget is of the Office for Fair Access; and how many people are employed there.

Bill Rammell: The annual budget for OFFA is £500,000. A director and three full-time members of staff are employed there.

Private Education

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of  (a) primary and  (b) secondary school students in England are being educated outside the state education system.

Jim Knight: The number and percentage of pupils attending independent schools are given in the table.
	A primary/secondary indicator is not collected from independent schools, so a breakdown by age group has been provided.
	
		
			  Independent schools( 1) : Number and percentage of pupils( 2) as at January 2006—England 
			   Number (headcount) of pupils  
			  Pupils aged( 3)  All schools  Independent schools  Percentage of pupils in independent schools( 4) 
			 
			 Under 5 905,940 64,040 7.1 
			 5 to 10 3,618,470 200,440 5.5 
			 11 to 15 3,238,020 233,820 7.2 
			 16 and over 453,230 82,210 18.1 
			 Total 8,215,660 580,510 7.1 
			 (1) Excludes direct grant nursery schools, city technology colleges and academies (2) Excludes dually registered pupils. (3) Age as at 31 August 2005. (4) The number of pupils in independent schools expressed as a percentage of pupils across all schools.  Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.  Source:  Schools Census

School Playgrounds: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many  (a) school playgrounds and  (b) parts of school playgrounds were sold in Essex in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight: In the last five years the Secretary of State has approved four applications that involve the disposal of either a playground or part of a playground at schools in Essex. The details are as follows:
	(i) An application was approved in October 2003 to dispose of the playground at the former Park School, Rayleigh which had closed.
	(ii) In April 2004, an application was approved to dispose of the playground at Harwich Primary School, Harwich. The school had moved to a new site where a new playground of at least equal size replaced that on the old site.
	(iii) In April 2004, an application was approved to dispose of the playground at Little Parndon Infant School, Harlow. The separate infant and junior schools had closed and amalgamated to form one new primary, making the former infant school site redundant.
	(iv) An application to dispose of the playground at the former Thomas Tallis Infant School in Waltham Abbey that had closed was approved in June 2004.

Special Educational Needs

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were in  (a) school action,  (b) early years action,  (c) school action plus and  (d) early years action plus in each local education authority in each year since the scheme's inception.

Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the House Library.
	Information broken down by school action, early years action, school action plus and early years action plus is not available for all school types for all years requested. Where this breakdown is not available, the total number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) without a statement has been provided.

Special Schools

David Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children with statements were educated by each local authority at a special school outside the child's local authority area, in each year since 1997.

Parmjit Dhanda: holding answer 22 January 2007
	A table showing the number and percentage of children with statements of Special Educational Needs who were educated at a special school outside the child's local authority area by each local authority for the years 2002 to 2006 has been placed in the Library.

Student Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what factors were taken into account when setting the maximum non-means-tested potential borrowing for a student living away from home and outside London for 2006-07.

Bill Rammell: As in previous years 75 per cent. of the maintenance loan is non-means-tested. The maximum loan rates were set to match the median basic expenditure by students based on the 2002/03 Student Income and Expenditure Survey.
	All eligible full-time students are able to apply for a non-means-tested tuition fee loan to cover their tuition fees up to £3,000.

Underachieving Pupils

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what finances are targeted in 2006-07 to support the underachieving groups of  (a) selected ethnic minorities,  (b) white working-class boys and  (c) looked-after children identified on page 29 of his Department's annual report.

Jim Knight: Targeted finances which support underachieving groups are:
	 (a) The Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), an element of the Standards Fund, provides additional support to raise the educational achievement of minority ethnic pupils and to meet the particular needs of pupils whose first language is other than English. In 2006-07 the Department allocated £173.6 million EMAG funding to local authorities.
	 (b) The Department does not explicitly fund white working class boys and looked-after children through the Dedicated School Grant (DSG). However, the Department has estimated that 10.5 per cent. of the £27 billion DSG paid to local authorities in (2006-07) was targeted on deprivation; within that it was estimated that 1.8 per cent. was specifically targeted at black and minority groups with the remaining 8.6 per cent. on general deprivation.
	The Department has also allocated significant funding to support personalised learning within schools' core budgets. In 2007-08 this amounts to £565 million through the Dedicated Schools Grant and £365 million through the School Standards Grant (Personalisation). Schools are encouraged to use this funding to support intervention and catch-up provision for children who have fallen behind in English and Maths; to support the education of gifted and talented learners; and to help learners from deprived backgrounds to access after-school and year-round activities.
	 (c) DfES made available a total of £152 million of targeted funding for children's services in 2006-07 through the Children's Services Grant, which includes funding for services for looked after children. The recent green paper Care Matters set out the Government's wide ranging proposals for transforming educational and other outcomes for looked after children.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Political Parties: Expenditure

Oliver Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what research the Electoral Commission has undertaken on the amount of expenditure by political party accounting units with expenditure below £25,000 a year.

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has conducted no specific research on this issue. However, as part of its regulatory oversight of party finances, the Commission periodically requests details from all political party accounting units of their income and expenditure to enable it to check that every unit required by law to submit its accounts to the Commission is doing so. The Commission also, for the same purpose, regularly cross-checks information about donations accepted by accounting units against records of accounts submitted.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Pension Credit

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of eligible pensioners not in receipt of pension credit.

James Purnell: Our first priority on taking office was dealing with the situation we inherited of pensioners already living in poverty. Since 1997 1 million pensioners have been lifted out of relative poverty thanks to measures like pension credit.
	The White Paper "Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pensions System" announced our commitment to securing these gains into the future by uprating both the basic state pension and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit in line with earnings over the long-term.
	The latest available estimate is for 2004-05 when around 1 to 1.5 million pensioners were thought to be eligible for but not receiving pension credit.

Pension Credit: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households received pension credit in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in each year in  (a) May 2005 and  (b) May 2006; and what the annual pension credit expenditure was in each ward in each year.

James Purnell: The answer is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Household recipients of pension credit and the cost of pension credit expenditure for wards in Newcastle upon Tyne local authority, May 2005 and May 2006 
			  Ward name  Number of household recipients, 2005  Annual pension credit expenditure 2004-05 (£ million, nominal terms)  Number of household recipients, 2006  Annual pension credit expenditure 2005-06 (£ million, nominal terms) 
			 Benwall 645 1.4 625 1.5 
			 Blakelaw 840 1.7 855 1.9 
			 Byker 990 2.2 960 2.2 
			 Castle 380 0.8 380 0.8 
			 Dene 565 1.1 570 1.2 
			 Denton 800 1.5 805 1.6 
			 Elswick 600 1.6 595 1.6 
			 Fawdon 730 1.6 750 1.8 
			 Fenham 795 1.6 795 1.8 
			 Grange 640 1.4 635 1.4 
			 Heaton 380 0.8 380 0.9 
			 Jesmond 285 0.7 285 0.7 
			 Kenton 645 1.4 630 1.5 
			 Lemington 595 1.2 595 1.3 
			 Monkchester 795 1.9 765 2.0 
			 Moorside 640 1.5 620 1.6 
			 Newburn 730 1.4 745 1.6 
			 Sandyford 690 1.5 685 1.6 
			 Scotswood 430 1.0 435 1.1 
			 South Gosforth 260 0.5 260 0.5 
			 Walker 920 2.0 900 2.1 
			 Walkergate 710 1.5 705 1.7 
			 West City 695 1.8 675 1.8 
			 Westerhope 625 1.2 640 1.3 
			 Wingrove 395 1.0 410 1.1 
			 Woolsington 710 1.5 705 1.5 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne local authority total 16,410 35.9 16,390 38.2 
			  Notes: 1. Expenditure figures are consistent with the pre-Budget report 2006 and are rounded to the nearest £100,000. 2. The number of households in receipt are rounded to a multiple of five. 3. As a result of 1. and 2., ward totals may not sum to area totals. 4. Case loads and average weekly amounts for May 2005 and May 2006 have been used to calculate the annual expenditure figures for each ward in Newcastle local authority. 5. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household. 6. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries.  Source: DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Pensions

Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many women will receive entitlements to the state second pension as a result of the Government's pension proposals.

James Purnell: As a result of reform around 1 million more people will build up entitlement to state second pension from 2010, 90 per cent. of whom will be women.

Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will break down the cost of proposed reforms to the state second pension, as shown in figure 9 of the Pensions White Paper, 'Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pension System', to show the  (a) (i) gross and (ii) net costs of reforms to accrual rules on the basis of existing coverage and  (b) (A) gross and (B) net costs of changes to coverage.

James Purnell: Under our reforms to the state second pension, individuals will accrue a new flat rate amount of £1.40 a week for each year spent working or caring. This will replace the great complexity of the existing flat-rate calculation. The residual earnings- related element will gradually be withdrawn over 20 years. These significant simplification measures and our proposals to increase coverage of state second pension will ensure that people who work or who have caring responsibilities will more easily recognise the value of the contribution they make.
	The following table contains the projected additional cost of state second pension reform. Column (a) shows the additional costs of flat-rating and simplifying the state second pension on the basis of existing coverage measures. Column (b) shows the additional costs of improving coverage of the state second pension, after flat-rating and simplification.
	
		
			  Gross and net costs of S2P reforms (in 2006-07 price terms) 
			  £ billion 
			   (a) Additional cost of flat-rating and simplification (without coverage measures)  (b) Additional cost of coverage measures (after flat-rating and simplification) 
			   Gross  Net  Gross  Net 
			 2010 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2011 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2012 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2013 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2014 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2015 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2016 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2017 -0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 
			 2018 -0.1 -0.1 0.0 0.0 
			 2019 -0.1 -0.1 0.1 0.0 
			 2020 -0.1 -0.1 0.1 0.1 
			 2030 0.2 0.2 0.6 0.4 
			 2040 0.9 0.7 1.7 1.4 
			 2050 1.0 0.8 3.5 2.8 
			  Notes: 1. Estimates of additional expenditure are consistent with the policy detail set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment accompanying the Pensions Bill. Net costs include savings seen from reduced expenditure on other income related benefits (pension credit, housing benefit and council tax benefit). They do not include any change in income tax revenue or national insurance. 2. Net costs assume the pension credit standard minimum guarantee is uprated by earnings from 2008. Net costs do not include the effect of direct reforms to the savings credit. 3. Costs assume contracting-out of DC schemes is abolished in 2012. Column (b) assumes the state second pension has already been flat-rated and simplified. Applying the changes in a different order would alter the gross and net cost of each individual policy, but not the total additional cost of reform. 4. Abolition of contracting-out for DC schemes from 2012 decreases the cost of the contracted-out rebate. This is not included in the figures above. 5. Costs or savings presented in the table are based on long-term projections of United Kingdom benefit spend, consistent with the pre-Budget report 2006. 6. Figures exclude savings resulting from raising state pension age. 7. Figures exclude the effect of personal accounts.

Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consultancy projects on pension reform have been undertaken on behalf of his Department since 30 November 2005.

James Purnell: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  Title of project  Consultant 
			 Investment options in personal accounts CRA International (UK) 
			 Competitive implications of alternative market structures: the microeconomics of NPSS CRA International (UK) 
			 Research study to develop a counterfactual for private pensions CRA International (UK) 
			 Impact assessment of the NPSS on annuities market CRA International (UK) 
			 The value of choice and brands in personal accounts CRA International (UK) 
			 Review of research relevant to assessing the impact of the proposed NPSS on household saving Price Waterhouse Coopers 
			 Research into the costs of capital for personal accounts Price Waterhouse Coopers 
			 Research into early policy development for personal accounts Deloittes 
			 Analysis of delivery model options for personal accounts McKinsey 
			 Establishing a delivery authority for personal accounts Partnership UK (ongoing)

Pensions

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the impact on current pension providers in lost charges and fees of the introduction of personal accounts and the capture by personal accounts of £3.2 billion of contributions currently being made to them as suggested on page 23 of the White Paper "Personal Accounts: a new way to save."

James Purnell: The proposals contained in the White Paper, "Personal accounts: a new way to save" present a significant opportunity to the financial services industry, including pension providers. As a result of automatic enrolment, pension schemes and providers in the existing employer-sponsored arena will see an increase in membership and contributions. The personal accounts scheme will be delivered by the private sector creating competition for new contracts for administration and fund management services. It is estimated that the reforms will result in an annual increase in household saving of £4 to 5 billion a year, and in the long term the personal accounts scheme will have between £100 billion and £200 billion in funds under management.

Pensions

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his Answer of 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 98W, on pensions, for what reason UK pensions are index linked for UK citizens living in  (a) Bermuda,  (b) Gibraltar and  (c) Sovereign bases on Cyprus and not in the other countries mentioned in the Answer.

James Purnell: Annual upratings of the state pension are paid under:
	 (a) the EC's Social Security Regulations, which apply to pensioners who have a UK state pension living in the European Economic Area and Switzerland; and
	 (b) reciprocal social security agreements with other countries, which allow for annual uprating to be paid there.
	The EC Social Security Regulations apply to both Gibraltar and the whole of the island of Cyprus, including the sovereign base areas. A reciprocal social security agreement exists with Bermuda. We are therefore required to pay the annual uprating in these countries.
	The remaining British Overseas Territories are not covered by either the EC Regulations or a reciprocal social security agreement.
	We have no plans to negotiate any new reciprocal agreements.

Benefit Helplines

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many staff will be answering calls on each of his Department's benefit helplines between 23 December 2006 and 3 January 2007.

Anne McGuire: The number of people answering calls on any helpline may vary during each day in order to provide a consistent level of service to the varying volume of calls being received.
	In arriving at staffing levels for normal or seasonal days, helplines take account of historical data on the volume of calls expected, anticipated impacts such as mailings campaigns and provide appropriate staffing levels. All DWP contact centres are closed on a normal Sunday and Bank Holidays apart from two helplines operated by Private Sector Partners—the Pensions Information Line and Pensions Guide Order Line.
	The information that is available is recorded in the following table and provides the maximum number of staff available to answer calls:
	
		
			   Saturday 23 December 2006  Sunday 24 December 2006  Wednesday27 December 2006  Thursday 28 December 2006  Friday 29 December 2006 
			 Benefit Enquiry Line (BEL) 0 0 0 28 26 
			 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 0 0 0 219 203 
			 Child Support Agency (CSA)(1) 40 0 38 193 191 
			 Debt Mngmt(2) 0 0 22 195 193 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (First Contact) 0 0 99(3) 1,429 937 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (Jobseeker Direct) 31 0 57(3) 454 473 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (Employer Direct) 4 0 27(3) 137 115 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (National Benefit Fraud) 0 0 0(4) 55 52 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (National Insurance Number Allocation) 0 0 0 185 169 
			 Pension Centres 0 0 152(3) 897 847 
			 Pensions Direct 0 0 0 117 98 
			 Pension Credit Application Line 0 0 0 40 40 
			 Pension Guide Order Line 2 1 0 11 16 
			 Pension Info Order Line 3 3 4(4) 4 4 
			 Future Pension Centre 0 0 0 120 116 
			 RP Tele Claims 0 0 0 50 50 
			 Winter Fuel Helpline 0 0 45(4) 78 72 
		
	
	
		
			   Saturday 30 December 2006  Sunday 31 December 2006  Monday 1 January 2007  Tuesday 2 January 2007  Wednesday 3 January 2007 
			 Benefit Enquiry Line (BEL) 0 0 0 44 50 
			 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 0 0 0 357 372 
			 Child Support Agency (CSA)(1) 42 0 0 349 413 
			 Debt Mngmt(2) 0 0 0 250 360 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (First Contact) 0 0 0 1,435(3) 1,121 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (Jobseeker Direct) 35 0 0 586(3) 581 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (Employer Direct) 7 0 0 208(3) 248 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (National Benefit Fraud) 0 0 0 79(3) 85 
			 Jobcentre Plus Direct (National Insurance Number Allocation) 0 0 0 233(3) 283 
			 Pension Centres 0 0 0 952 1,146 
			 Pensions Direct 0 0 0 109 117 
			 Pension Credit Application Line 0 0 0 100 100 
			 Pension Guide Order Line 11 0 8 22 24 
			 Pension Info Order Line 2 2 0 7 6 
			 Future Pension Centre 0 0 0 149 185 
			 RP Tele Claims 0 0 0 67 62 
			 Winter Fuel Helpline 0 0 0 77 81 
			 (1) CSA do not run a benefits helpline, it answers calls on live cases or general inquiries on child support. If a caller has a case with an open task the call is routed to a caseworker, if not, or it is a general inquiry then the call goes to our dedicated contact centre network. The figures shown are for the dedicated contact centres only and throughout this period in addition to these staff there were more than 2,000 caseworkers also available to take calls on any of the days in question. (2 )Debt Management do not operate benefit helplines. They provide service for customers to contact to discuss the repayment of overpayments of benefit or certain Social Fund loans. (3 )Three Scottish Jobcentre Plus contact centres were operational on the 27 December and to deal with Scottish calls only. On 2 January the same three contact centres were closed with their English business diverted to contact centres open in England. Pension figure is for centres in Scotland only. (4 )Figures are for staff working for Private Sector Partners who field calls on behalf of the Pension Service and National Benefit Fraud Hotline.  Note: All DWP helplines were closed on Christmas day and Boxing day.

Committees: Ministerial Attendance

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what occasions  (a) he and  (b) departmental Ministers have been requested to appear before committees of (i) devolved institutions and (ii) the European Parliament since 2004; on what topic in each case; how many and what proportion of such requests were accepted; and if he will make a statement.

Anne McGuire: Since 2004, there have been no requests for a DWP Secretary of State or DWP Minister to appear before a committee of the European Parliament, but there have been two occasions when they have attended an EPC.
	My right hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett), the then Secretary of State, and the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Mr. Plaskitt) appeared before the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee on 11 July 2005, to give a presentation on the UK Presidency programme.
	My hon. Friend, the Under-Secretary of State appeared before the European Parliament Employment and Social Affairs Committee on 22 November 2005, to discuss the EPSCO December Council and the UK Presidential achievements.
	Since 2004, there have been no requests for a DWP Minister to appear before any committee of the devolved institutions.

Departmental Expenditure

Brooks Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on buying, operating and supporting  (a) all commercial software products and  (b) software products produced by Microsoft in each of the last three years.

Anne McGuire: As the Department's accounting systems do not provide detailed information about commercial software products, I am unable to provide the information requested.

Departmental Expenditure

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will list the public information advertising campaigns his Department has run in 2006-07; and how much his Department has spent on  (a) press and  (b) television advertising in each campaign.

Anne McGuire: A table listing all public information advertising campaigns run by the Department for Work and Pensions in 2006-07 is shown as follows. Figures are included for the spend to date on press and television advertising where applicable.
	
		
			  2006-07 
			  £000 
			 Campaign/subject  Press  TV 
			 Age Positive 37 — 
			 State Pension Deferral 42 — 
			 State Second Pension — — 
			 Fraud and Error Campaign 3 1,717 
			 National Pensions Debate — — 
			 Pension Credit 282 — 
			 Disability Discrimination Act Phase 3 — — 
			 Winter fuel payments 326 — 
			 Images of disability — — 
			 Age Partnership Group 8 — 
			 Jobseeker Direct campaign — — 
			 Scotland Jobcentre Plus campaign — — 
			 Jobcentre Plus BME campaign — — 
			 Jobcentre Plus Lone Parent Awareness Campaign — — 
			 Total 698 1,717 
			  Notes: 1. The tables do not include the following as the information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost: spend by non-departmental bodies for which the Department is responsible details of highly localised publicity activity by the Department's customer-facing businesses recruitment or procurement advertising 2. The figures in these tables refer to media spend only, excluding production, direct mail, public relations and other costs. 3. All figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. 4. All figures are quoted net of VAT. 5. Press includes national press, regional press, specialist press, advertorials and featurelink, to provide costs for newspaper only advertising would incur disproportionate cost.

Departmental Expenditure

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of expenditure by his Department in each of the Government Office regions in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: Chapter 7 of the annual Treasury publication 'Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses' details expenditure on services in the regions and countries of the United Kingdom.
	Identifiable spending in each region of England by Government Department for 2004-05 (latest available data) is contained within table 7.19 of the 2006 edition of PESA.
	The 2006 edition of PESA is available at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/economic_data_and_tools/finance_spendingstatistics/pespublications/pespubpesa06.cfm

Disability Equality Duty

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how he plans to make Government information available to deaf and blind people under the Disability Equality Duty.

Anne McGuire: The Disability Equality Duty, which came into force on 4 December, requires by law that public-sector bodies, including all Government Departments, executive agencies and Ministers, promote equality for disabled people. All Government Departments and agencies were required to produce a Disability Equality Scheme setting out how they will achieve this by December 2006.
	The DWP published its DES on 1 December while its four businesses—the Child Support Agency, Jobcentre Plus, the Disability and Carers Service and the Pension Service—have published their own schemes. We worked closely with disabled customers, representative groups and leading disabled charities in developing these schemes and will continue to consult them as we review and improve the schemes over time.
	We ensure that all our customers can access our information by:
	providing a variety of alternative formats, including Braille, large print, audiocassette, British Sign Language (BSL) tape and Easy Read guide where appropriate, ensuring that alternative formats are available at the same time as English and Welsh versions;
	ensuring that customers can still access our information when their chosen alternative format is not available. For example, as part of the consultation on the Welfare Reform Green Paper, we worked closely with charities to organise briefings for groups of disabled people on the key proposals. We adopted the same approach when seeking the views of disabled people on the Child Support White Paper.
	We have also recently published a new Accessible Written Information Standard which sets the minimum level which all the Department's written communications must meet in order to be accessible.

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on what dates Ministers in his Department and its predecessors made official visits to the London boroughs of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

Anne McGuire: It is custom for Ministers when preparing to make a visit within the United Kingdom to inform Members representing the constituencies to be included within their itinerary.
	Information on ministerial visits within the UK is not collected centrally. It is likely that the information requested, about visits undertaken since 1997, will be available only at disproportionate cost.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by each of his Department's executive agencies in each Government office region in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: The Department's executive agencies do not record their total expenditure by Government office regions. Therefore the information is not available in the format requested. The information requested could be supplied only at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which executive agencies are the responsibility of his Department; what the function is of each agency; and what the budget was of each agency in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: The executive agencies that were the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions at 31 March 2006 were
	Jobcentre Plus
	Child Support Agency
	The Pension Service
	Disability and Carers Service
	Appeals Service (transferred to Department of Constitutional Affairs April 2006)
	The Rent Service
	A description of the purpose and objectives of each agency, together with the latest expenditure figures can be found in each executive agency's published annual report and accounts for 2005-06. These documents are available to view on the internet and are also published by The Stationery Office (TSO). The documents can be accessed via the following links:
	Jobcentre Plus annual report and accounts 2005-06
	Child Support Agency annual report and accounts 2005-06
	Disability and Carers Service annual report and accounts 2005-06
	The Pension Service—About Us—The Pension Service Annual Report
	Appeals Service annual report and accounts 2005-2006
	http://www.therentservice.gov.uk/documents/corporate_publications/TRSAnnualReport200506.pdf

Fatal Accidents: Workers

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many fatal accidents at work occurred in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006; and how many have occurred in 2007.

Anne McGuire: The latest number of work related fatalities were released in the Health and Safety Commission's (HSC) "Statistics of Fatal Injuries" published in August 2006. Each reporting year covers the period 1 April to 31 March. The figure of 212 reported fatal injuries to workers in 2005-06 was the lowest on record and showed a 5 per cent. reduction over the 2004-05 figure of 223. The rate of fatal injury also fell by 5 per cent. to 0.71 fatalities per 100,000 workers, again the lowest on record. Figures for 2006-07 will not be available until July 2007.
	There has been a significant improvement in the number of fatalities in the construction industry and in the overall number of deaths resulting from falls in the workplace; in both areas these are the lowest figures on record.
	Although we are making progress, I remain concerned that so many people continue to lose their lives at work. Whilst I and the HSC wish to see further reduction in work related fatalities, it requires a major effort by all concerned to maintain even the present relatively low levels.

Fatal Accidents: Workers

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether the Health and Safety Executive records accidents that occur when workers are being transported to work by their employers.

Anne McGuire: No. Employers are required to record, and report to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), only accidents that are covered by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR).
	Work-related incidents which are not reportable under RIDDOR 1995 include those related to transport activities where safety regulation is not primarily the responsibility of health and safety enforcing authorities, including most road transport incidents, as well as civil aviation and merchant shipping.

Financial Assistance Scheme

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much has been paid out by the Financial Assistance Scheme since its inception.

James Purnell: As at 26 January 2007, the Financial Assistance Scheme has paid out more then £3 million to 871 qualifying members.
	A further 91 members will be paid as soon as they have confirmed their personal details, and an additional 196 members have been assessed and will be eligible for FAS when they reach age 65.

Financial Assistance Scheme

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Financial Assistance Scheme in retrospectively protecting members of collapsed private- sector pension schemes.

James Purnell: We reviewed the scheme last spring and extended it in May's Pensions White Paper. This review increases the funding from £400 million in cash terms to £2.3 billion in cash terms or £783 million net present value.
	We also reviewed the administration of the scheme and published our findings in July 2006. Since then we have made good progress to implement the findings.

Financial Assistance Scheme

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his latest estimate is of the average time taken to process applications made to the Financial Assistance Scheme in the last 12 months.

James Purnell: Before the financial assistance scheme is able to start processing applications for individual scheme members, the pension scheme has to complete the notification and qualification processes. These involve the trustees and administrators providing basic scheme information to the FAS Operational Unit. They then have six months to provide data on individual members before a notice requiring provision of this information can be issued.
	'Notification' of a scheme occurs when trustees or members formally notify the FAS of their scheme's basic details, after which a scheme can then be considered for FAS qualification. As at 29 December 2006, the average time taken (since FAS operations started in September 2005) from 'notification' of a scheme to the date of the first payment to a member of the scheme was 190 working days.
	Within this period, the average time taken (over the last 12 months) by the FAS Operational Unit from first receipt from the trustees or administrators of member data to the date of the first payment to a member of the scheme was 24 working days.

Furniture

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent by his Department on furniture made by British firms in each year since 2000.

Anne McGuire: The Department for Work and Pensions has a PFI contract with Land Securities Trillium (LST). The contract includes the provision of fully fitted and serviced accommodation for which the Department pays an all-inclusive unitary charge. This includes replacement furniture. Additional furniture for large projects is procured via LST and billed separately.
	It is not possible to determine how much of the unitary charge relates to furniture, but the amounts spent on additional furniture are detailed as follows. While it is not known how much of this was made by British firms, LST's service partner responsible for furniture provision procures approximately 90 per cent. from British suppliers.
	The financial year 2002-03 is the first for which figures are readily available.
	
		
			  Financial year  Amount (£ million) 
			 2002-03 6 
			 2003-04 19 
			 2004-05 10 
			 2005-06 10 
			 2006-07 (to November 2006) 7

Government Auctions

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions where his Department publishes information about Government auctions  (a) which it arranges and  (b) to which it contributes in (i) Blackpool, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) the North West; and when the next such auction will take place in each area.

Anne McGuire: Any assets we auction are sold at auctions arranged by an external third party and we are unaware of any specific arranged auctions.

Health and Safety Executive

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many enforcement officers the Health and Safety Executive employs.

Anne McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive employed 1,459 inspectors (enforcement officers) at 1 January 2007. The figure is for full-time equivalents, rounded to the nearest whole number.

Health and Safety Executive

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many cases of litigation have been brought against  (a) the Health and Safety Executive and  (b) the Health and Safety Commission since May 1997; and what damages have been paid.

Anne McGuire: The Health and Safety Executive does not keep records of civil cases brought against it/the Commission in a way that enables a full answer to be given to this question.
	The Executive's finance section keeps records (going back to 2002) of payments made by the Executive/Commission which follow  (a) settlement of very small claims 'without admission of liability'  (b) settlement out of court, on legal advice, to compromise actions and  (c) awards of damages/costs following unsuccessful defences of actions.
	These figures are set out in the table as follows. They will not include cases brought against the Executive/Commission which were unsuccessful.
	
		
			  Compensation claims settled by HSE—including minor claims for (eg) damage to clothing and tyres. Claims over £200 include personal injury and vehicle 
			   Staff—Number of payments  Total paid (£)  Public—Number of payments  Total paid (£) 
			 2002-03 
			 Under £200 20 724.27 0 0.00 
			 Over £200 0 0.00 0 0.00 
			  
			  2003-04 
			 Under £200 30 1,252.99 0 0.00 
			 Over £200 4 24,048.37 2 1,684.63 
			  
			  2004-05 
			 Under £200 16 807.82 0 0.00 
			 Over £200 1 845.95 2 246,125.11 
			  
			  2005-06 
			 Under £200 7 189.84 0 0.00 
			 Over £200 5 13,179.33 1 600.00 
			  
			  2006-07 to date 
			 Under £200 11 283.11 2 155.00 
			 Over £200 3 16,215.00 2 857.98

Incapacity Benefit

Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the 10 most common reasons given for claiming incapacity benefit were in each London borough in the last 12 months.

Jim Murphy: Information is not available in the format requested. A breakdown of incapacity benefits claimants in London boroughs by diagnoses groups has been placed in the Library.

Incapacity Benefit

Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in  (a) Lancashire and  (b) Ribble Valley are in receipt of incapacity benefit; and how many of those people have been in receipt of incapacity benefit for (i) up to one year, (ii) one to two years, (iii) two to five years and (iv) over five years.

Anne McGuire: The available information is in the following table.
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance claimants by duration of claim in the Ribble Valley and Lancashire as at 31 May 2006 
			   All  Up to 1 year  1 year and up to 2 years  2 years and up to 5 years  5 years and over 
			 Lancashire 61,700 8,700 5,520 13,390 34,090 
			 Ribble Valley borough council 1,860 240 150 360 1,120 
			 Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency 3,260 390 270 640 1,970 
			  Notes: 1 .Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 3. 'Claimant' figures include all incapacity benefit, severe disablement allowance and incapacity benefit credits-only cases.  Source:  DWP Information Directorate, Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. Data.

Incapacity Benefit

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated  (a) on-flows and  (b) off-flows for incapacity benefits are for each year to 2019-20 (i) under current policies and (ii) taking into account the proposed policy changes in the recent papers A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work, and Security in retirement : towards a new pensions system.

Anne McGuire: Projected estimates of the numbers flowing onto and off incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance, consistent with published projections of the number of claimants under current policies, are shown in the table.
	Based on existing evidence, these forecasts take into account the positive impact from Pathways to Work in the third of the country currently covered, as well as the effect of the equalisation of state pension age.
	Forecasts that take into account further proposed policy changes in the recent papers, "A new deal for welfare: Empowering people to work" and "Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system", are not available at this time.
	
		
			  Estimated numbers of working age claimants flowing onto and off incapacity benefit or severe disablement allowance from 2005-06 to 2019-20 (thousands) 
			   Claimants  Flows - on  Flows - off 
			 2005-06 2,710 610 650 
			 2006-07 2,650 590 670 
			 2007-08 2,570 570 650 
			 2008-09 2,490 560 620 
			 2009-10 2,430 560 620 
			 2010-11 2,400 580 590 
			 2011-12 2,390 580 600 
			 2012-13 2,370 590 600 
			 2013-14 2,360 590 600 
			 2014-15 2,350 600 600 
			 2015-16 2,360 600 600 
			 2016-17 2,380 600 580 
			 2017-18 2,410 610 590 
			 2018-19 2,440 610 580 
			 2019-20 2,470 620 590 
			  Notes:  1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10,000.  2. Figures are based on the published pre-Budget report 2006 claimant estimates.  3. Figures are forecasts and are therefore subject to future revisions.  4. Figures include the estimated impact of roll-out of Pathways to Work to one-third of Great Britain.  5. Figures include estimates of the impact of equalisation of state pension age on the incapacity benefit caseload.  6. The balance between flows-on and flows-off will not reconcile to year-on-year changes in claimant forecast, owing to the rounding of all figures to the nearest 10,000 cases and the within-year averaging applied to the claimant forecast.

IT Contracts

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which IT contracts awarded by his Department in each of the last five years have been abandoned; and what the value was in each case.

James Purnell: There has been only one IT contract abandoned by the Department since 2004 (central records were not kept prior to this date). This was the Contact Management services order with IBM, which was valued at £6,189,131. The total that the Department will pay is £4,966,939.

IT Systems

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department has spent on IT systems since March; what the purpose of each system is; what the outturn against planned expenditure of each system has been; and what the  (a) planned and  (b) actual date of completion was for each system.

Anne McGuire: The Department and its businesses currently have in excess of 90 individual projects which encompass information technology (IT) changes to a greater or lesser extent. The Department's major projects are those contained in its modernisation programme. For the most part, these projects embrace both IT and business change.
	The information in the table lists the Department's current major programmes and projects that include significant IT change, where they are either on-going or have completed implementation since March 2006. The table shows for these projects/programmes information on their purpose, due end date, planned expenditure, outturn and actual end date. It should be noted that project details may alter as they pass through the project lifecycle and as the Department considers its wider plans as part of the normal spending review process.
	
		
			  Project  Purpose  Due end date  Planned expenditure (£ million)  Outturn (£ million)( 1)  Actual end date 
			 Pensions Transformation Project The programme will transform the Pension Service, bringing together business and IT change in ways that improve customer service and deliver efficiencies. 2010 829 Project on-going Project on-going 
			 Customer Information System This project will deliver a database of key citizen information to be shared across DWP. The database will complement information currently available in the Department's key customer information systems, i.e. Personal Details Computer System and Departmental Central Index, and become their replacement. July 2007 83 Project on-going Project on-going 
			 Resource Management This programme will provide modernised HR, financial and procurement functions for DWP staff. It will introduce significant business process change, enabling departmental resources to be managed more effectively. June 2007 208 Project on-going Project on-going 
			 Debt Management The Department Programme introduced a new organisational structure based on 10 Debt Centres and a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) package to provide new Management Information Systems, combined with increased focus on the management and ultimately reduction of debt stock. February 2006 103 103 31 May 2006 
			 Central Payments System(formerly part of Payment Modernisation) New payment processing IT functionality is required to support the DWP to process payments for new entitlement management and financial scheduling systems. March 2010 141 Project on-going Project on-going 
			 (1) Outturn figures show the final investment cost for the completed projects.   Note:  The planned expenditure is: for projects currently in progress, the latest forecast investment expenditure; or for completed projects, the final approved investment expenditure.

Low Incomes: Disabled

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what support his Department gives to low income households with children with disabilities.

Anne McGuire: My Department offers a range of provision for children with disabilities in low-income families, from direct financial support such as disability living allowance to employment-related programmes for their parents.

New Deal

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria his Department uses to assess the performance of the new deal programme.

Jim Murphy: A wide range of indicators are used to assess the performance of new deal programmes. National Statistics are used to monitor the number of job entries, including sustained jobs, achieved by new deal participants. Contracts with external providers are monitored to ensure high quality services are delivered in a cost-effective way, and we also evaluate the new deals using a range of social research methods. Published reports are placed in the Library.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which non-departmental public bodies are sponsored by his Department; what the function is of each body; and what the annual budget of each body was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Anne McGuire: The following non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) were sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions at 31 March 2006:
	 Tribunal NDPBs
	Appeals Service (transferred to Department of Constitutional Affairs April 2006)
	Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman
	 Executive NDPBs
	Disability Rights Commission
	Health and Safety Commission
	Health and Safety Executive
	Independent Living Funds
	Pension Protection Fund (designated a Public Corporation April 2006)
	The Pensions Regulator
	 Public Corporation
	REMPLOY Ltd (private company limited by guarantee)
	 Advisory NDPBs
	Disability Employment Advisory Committee
	Disability Living Allowance Advisory Board
	Industrial Injuries Advisory Council
	National Employment Panel
	Pensions Ombudsman
	Social Security Advisory Committee
	Details of the remit, Government funding and gross expenditure of the public bodies sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions can be found in the Cabinet Office Publication 'Public Bodies 2006', copies of which are in the Library and which is also available on-line at:
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/other/agencies/publications/pdf/public-bodies/publicbodies2006. pdf

Open Source Software

David Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of his Department's computer systems use open source software; what percentage of the systems planned to be installed use such software; and whether he plans to increase the use of open source software in his Department.

James Purnell: The Department for Work and Pensions does not currently use open source software in its computer systems. The Department purchases industry standard services from its framework suppliers. This allows the Department to benefit from industry standards and trends and allows its suppliers to consider the use of open source software, balanced against the need for departmental efficiency, stakeholder value, business need and whole life costs, as part of any standard services offered to the Department.

Pathways to Work

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in implementing the Pathways to Work Employment Scheme; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Murphy: Pathways to Work pilots is now being delivered in about 40 per cent. of the country resulting in over 26,000 job entries so far. We will roll out Pathways to the rest of Britain next year.

Personal Accounts

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the proportion of the target audience for personal accounts who can be expected to receive a return greater than £2 in real terms for every £1 invested; and if he will make a statement.

James Purnell: Information on the proportion of individuals who can expect particular payback rates is not available.
	However the Department has published, in "Financial incentives to save for retirement", detailed analysis of the payback which can be expected from saving in a private pension for a range of example individuals under various assumptions around investment returns and other factors. It shows that while the payback depends on factors such as investment performance, the vast majority of people can expect to benefit in retirement from saving in personal accounts.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the estimated  (a) set up and  (b) annual running costs to his Department are of the IT systems needed to run the personal accounts scheme as outlined in the White Paper "Personal Accounts: a new way to save".

James Purnell: We provided an estimate of the overall costs of setting up a personal accounts scheme in "Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system: Regulatory impact assessments and technical appendices". As part of our commercial and procurement process we are engaging with the financial services sector and other organisations to help estimate costs. However, current estimates are necessarily subject to change at this stage. We will be refining our estimate working with the Personal Accounts Delivery Authority, and firm estimates will not be available until later in the procurement process. In order to reduce costs and delivery risk we expect suppliers to re-use existing systems, where practicable, in delivering the Personal Accounts service; therefore their engagement in the cost estimating process is essential.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether all the revenue expenditure to be incurred by the personal accounts delivery authority will be found from within his current departmental expenditure limit.

James Purnell: We are currently undertaking work to consider finance structures of personal accounts, taking into account value for money and affordability, and will bring forward proposals in due course.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will publish the analysis that supports the statement that most people are unlikely to remain in multiple jobs throughout their working life on page 65 of the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the White Paper "Personal Accounts: a new way to save".

James Purnell: Figures from the Family Resources Survey show that there are relatively few individuals, an estimated 330,000, who have multiple jobs, earn more than £5,000 per year and are not currently contributing to a private pension. Analyses of such small groups using the FRS sample are not robust enough for publication, but can be used to provide broad indications of the characteristics of individuals within the group. Further analysis using the main longitudinal surveys is not possible as sample sizes are smaller than for the Family Resources Survey, increasing the risk that individuals within the sample will be unrepresentative of the overall group.
	The following table shows an analysis of the individuals from the 2004-05 Family Resources Survey with multiple jobs who earn more than £5,000 per year and are not currently contributing to a private pension, by age band and employment status. Although these figures do not provide firm evidence of the employment patterns of a group of individuals over the course of their working lives, they show considerable variation across different age groups, providing some indicative evidence that the characteristics of the group vary at different points of the working life, and suggesting that the majority of individuals currently in multiple jobs are unlikely to remain in multiple jobs throughout their working life.
	
		
			   Full time  Part time 
			  Age band  Men  Women  Men  Women 
			 16 to 21 22,000 17,000 7,000 10,000 
			 22 to 29 29,000 25,000 8,000 15,000 
			 30 to 39 23,000 20,000 3,000 20,000 
			 40 to 49 17,000 12,000 4,000 30,000 
			 50 and over 9,000 19,000 15,000 27,000 
			  Source:  Family Resources Survey 2004-05.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in what circumstances an individual would be better off transferring money into a personal account, as described in the White Paper, "Personal Accounts: a new way to save", rather than into an independent savings account invested in an equity tracking fund.

James Purnell: Individuals would need to consider a variety of personal and financial factors before deciding whether to save in their personal account or an alternative savings vehicle. However, as well as a matching employer contribution of 3 per cent., those saving in Personal Accounts will benefit from low charges and generous tax relief.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment his Department has made of the effect on existing pension schemes of the decision to set a maximum annual contribution of at least £5,000 set out on page 11 of the White Paper 'Personal Accounts: a new way to save'.

James Purnell: The Government are consulting on an annual contribution limit of £5,000 into personal accounts. The final decision will balance the twin aims of focusing personal accounts on moderate to low earners and allowing sufficient flexibility for individuals within the scheme who wish to save more.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assumptions were made with regard to the number of years contribution for  (a) figure 6a and  (b) figure 6b on page 35 of the White Paper "Personal Accounts: a new way to save".

James Purnell: Figures 6a and 6b show the potential payback from saving for retirement with and without the proposed reforms. They assume the individual neither works nor has caring responsibilities until the age of 25, then makes national insurance contributions and contributes to a personal account at the default rate until retiring at state pension age.
	Details of this and other assumptions underlying these figures are contained in Appendix A of 'Financial incentives to save for retirement'.

Personal Accounts

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the White Paper "Personal Accounts: a new way to save", what assumptions were made in estimating that approximately 60 per cent. of money saved in personal accounts will be new saving.

James Purnell: The estimate that approximately 60 per cent. of money saved in personal accounts will be new saving is based on the results of a literature survey carried out for DWP.
	The 60 per cent. is the middle point of a range of 50 to 70 per cent. that was put forward in the report as a plausible assumption for the average level of new savings in the national pensions saving scheme or similar personal account schemes.
	It is this range that is used in the White Paper and the accompanying regulatory impact assessment, which note that personal accounts would generate pension savings of £7 to 8 billion per year, of which approximately £4-5 billion are expected to be additional.

Public Appointments

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which public appointments have been made by his Department to former Ministers who have served in the Government since May 1997.

Anne McGuire: The Department has made no public appointments to former Government Ministers who have served in the Government since May 1997.
	Baroness Hollis, who was Pensions Minister in the Lords, is currently on the Board of The Pensions Advisory Service but she was appointed by the TPAS Board, not the Department.
	This response covers all departmental public bodies listed in the Cabinet Office publication "Public Bodies 2006".

Terminally Ill People

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  on what grounds a decision- maker may overrule the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner on eligibility for a DS1500 claim;
	(2)  how many DS1500 claims were  (a) granted and  (b) refused in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and in what proportion of claims a decision-maker called for additional information before making a decision in each year.

Anne McGuire: Decision-makers do not overrule the opinion of a qualified medical practitioner about benefit entitlement on form DS1500 because the form is not a claim for benefit and does not contain such an opinion. The form contains purely factual information about a patient's diagnosis, the clinical features of their condition and their treatment. It is completed, at the request of a patient or their representative, by a registered medical practitioner who considers that the patient may have a potentially terminal illness, and is submitted with a claim form for benefit under the "special rules" for terminally ill people.
	These rules enable people who have a progressive disease, from which their death can reasonably be expected within six months, to qualify immediately for either higher-rate attendance allowance or the highest-rate of the disability living allowance care component without meeting the usual entitlement conditions. The rules also enable these people to receive the highest rate of incapacity benefit after 28 weeks rather than the usual 52 weeks.
	Decision-makers are entirely responsible for deciding whether a person is entitled to benefit under the "special rules" and, for this purpose, take advice from DWP Medical Services doctors on all "special rules" claims about whether the person by, or for whom, the claim is made has a progressive disease, from which their death can reasonably be expected within six months.
	Figures are not kept for the number of "special rules" claims on which decision-makers seek information in addition to that provided on form DS1500, and figures are not kept separately for the number of special rules claims that are disallowed.. The information that is available about "special rules" claims decided in each of the last five years is in the table.
	
		
			  Attendance allowance and disability living allowance and [ii] Incapacity Benefit—number of claims in which benefit was awarded under the "special rules" in each year from 2001-02 to 2005-06 
			  ( 1) Attendance allowance and disability living allowance ( 2) Incapacity benefit 
			 2001-02 70,100 500 
			 2002-03 65,800 400 
			 2003-04 63,000 600 
			 2004-05 62,500 400 
			 2005-06 58,100 400 
			  Sources: (1 )DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples. Figures are rounded to the nearest 100. (2 )DWP Information Directorate, 5 per cent. samples. Figures are for the 12 months ending on 31 May in 2002 and in each subsequent year, and are rounded to the nearest 100.

Winter Fuel Payments

Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many qualifying former UK residents living in  (a) Greece,  (b) Spain,  (c) Italy,  (d) Malta,  (e) Cyprus and  (f) Portugal received winter fuel payments allowance in each year for which figures are available; and how much was spent on those payments during that period.

James Purnell: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave him on 9 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 573-4W.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Afghanistan

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the commitment by the French Government of ground troops in Afghanistan; and what representations she has made to NATO partners on maintaining their commitments to the Alliance.

Kim Howells: Through the NATO led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) all 26 NATO nations, including France, remain committed to supporting the Afghan Government as it extends its writ across the country. ISAF is in Afghanistan to help establish a security environment in which accountable and effective Afghan institutions can develop and where Afghan-led reconstruction and development can happen. For its part, France currently has approximately 1,000 troops under ISAF making it the seventh largest troop-contributing nation to the force.
	My right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary and I regularly hold meetings with our NATO counterparts to ensure that commanders on the ground have access to the resources they need to carry out ISAF's mission and to ensure NATO Allies regularly review their civilian contributions to Afghanistan. At the recent NATO Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels, 26 January, my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed the need for all NATO Allies to play their part in ensuring ISAF's success. Military advice on force and capability requirements is provided by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe using the NATO force generation process.

Autumn Performance Report

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what specific financial measures against proliferators her Department is developing as set out in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Autumn Performance Report 1 April to 30 September 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: Officials have held a series of meetings to examine what financial measures we might use against proliferators. These discussions are ongoing. Separately, UN Security Council resolutions 1718 and 1737 contain country specific proliferation finance elements. These elements aim to disrupt the transfer of material and technology, which could contribute to the weapons of mass destruction and missile programmes of North Korea and Iran respectively. The use of financial measures could be a powerful tool in rolling back programmes of concern.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the mandate of Mr. Schwartz Schilling set by the Contact Group for Bosnia and Herzegovina will be extended; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: On 23 January 2007, Mr. Schwarz-Shilling announced that he would not be seeking an extension to his mandate as high representative and EU special representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina beyond 30 June 2007. The mandate of the Office of the High Representative beyond June 2007, and the selection of a successor to the high representative, will be decided by the Peace Implementation Council Board, which next meets on 26-27 February.

Council of Europe Conventions

Tim Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many Council of Europe conventions have been signed by the United Kingdom but not yet ratified; and what the dates of  (a) signature and  (b) expected ratification are in each case.

Kim Howells: The UK has signed but not yet ratified 19 Council of Europe Conventions as follows:
	
		
			  Treaties signed but not ratified as of 30 January 2007 
			  Number  Title  Opening of the treaty  Entry into force 
			 046 Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, securing certain rights and freedoms other than those already included in the Convention and in the first Protocol thereto 16 September 1963 2 May 1968 
			  Signature: 16 September1963   
			 
			 072 Convention relating to Stops on Bearer Securities in International Circulation 28 May 1970 11 February 1979 
			  Signature: 28 May 1970   
			 
			 077 Convention on the Establishment of a Scheme of Registration of Wills 16 May 1972 20 March 1976 
			  Signature 16 May 1972   
			 
			 101 European Convention on the Control of the Acquisition and Possession of Firearms by Individuals 28 June 1978 1 July 1982 
			  Signature: 28 June 1978   
			 
			 102 European Convention for the Protection of Animals for Slaughter 10 May 1979 11 June 1982 
			  Signature: 10 May 1979   
			 
			 142 Protocol amending the European Social Charter   
			  Signature: 21 October 1991 21 October 1991 — 
			 
			 144 Convention on the Participation of Foreigners in Public Life at Local Level 5 February 1992 1 May 1997 
			  Signature: 5 February 1992   
			 
			 153 European Convention relating to questions on Copyright Law and Neighbouring Rights in the Framework of Trans frontier Broadcasting by Satellite 11 May1994 — 
			  Signature: 2 October 1996   
			 
			 156 Agreement on illicit traffic by sea, implementing Article 17 of the United Nations Convention against illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances 31 January 1995 1 May 2000 
			  Signature: 31 January 1995   
			 
			 163 European Social Charter (revised) 3 May 1996 1 July 1999 
			  Signature: 7 November 1997   
			 
			 174 Civil Law Convention on Corruption 4 November 1999 1 November 2003 
			  Signature: 8 June 2000   
			 175 European Convention on the Promotion of a Transnational Long-Term Voluntary Service for Young People 11 May 2000 — 
			  Signature: 19 September 2000   
			 
			 179 Additional Protocol to the European Agreement on the Transmission of Applications for Legal Aid 4 October 2001 1 September 2002 
			  Signature: 4 October 2001   
			 
			 181 Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, regarding supervisory authorities and transborder data flows 8 November 2001 1 July 2004 
			  Signature: 8 November 2001   
			 
			 182 Second Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters 8 November 2001 1 February 2004 
			  Signature: 8 November 2001   
			 
			 185 Convention on Cybercrime 23 November 2001 1 July 2004 
			  Signature: 23 November 2001   
			 
			 190 Protocol amending the European Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism 15 May 2003 — 
			  Signature: 15 May 2003   
			 
			 193 European Convention for the Protection of Animals during International Transport (Revised) 6 November 2003 14 March 2006 
			  Signature: 6 November 2003   
			 
			 196 Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism 16 May 2005 — 
			  Signature: 16 May 2005   
		
	
	An up-to-date summary can be found on the Council of Europe website at:
	http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/Commun/ListeTraites.asp?PO=UK&MA=999&SI=3&DF=&CM=3&CL=ENG.
	Ratification raises a number of issues, including the need to review domestic law and policy in relation to each Convention. In light of this, expected ratification dates cannot be provided.

Deportation: British Nationality

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what records she maintains of British citizens deported from abroad to the UK by other countries.

Kim Howells: Where consular staff are aware that a British national is to be deported to the UK, either through providing consular assistance or notification from local authorities, they will record the information on the individual's case file on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office consular assistance database—Compass.

Gulf States: EC External Trade

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress was made during the recent talks between officials of the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) towards advancement of an EU/GCC free trade agreement; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: The last round of talks between officials of the EU and the Gulf Co-operation Council showed that both sides were moving closer to an agreement. However, at this stage the negotiations remain confidential. It remains a shared objective to conclude these talks as soon as possible.

Iran

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans she has to renew her requests to her Iranian counterpart for the return of the British military equipment seized illegally in the Shatt-al-Arab causeway.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has no immediate plans for contact with her Iranian counterpart. But we continue to urge the Iranians to return the boats. We have previously raised the return of boats and equipment with the Iranian authorities on numerous occasions, at both Ministerial and senior official level, in Tehran and London.

Iran

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of the recent Iranian decision to bar 38 inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency from entering Iran; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: This decision is deeply disappointing and will only increase international concern. If Iran's nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful, as the Iranians claim, then it is in Iran's interests to co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to resolve outstanding issues. Barring so many inspectors from the country will hardly help.
	The IAEA has asked Iran to reconsider the decision. But the IAEA has also said that even if Iran does not, 'there are a sufficient number of inspectors designated for Iran and the IAEA is able to perform its inspection activities'. Iran has a legally binding obligation under United Nations Security Council resolution 1737 to provide 'such access and co-operation as the IAEA requests' to verify suspension and clarify outstanding issues.

Iran

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the UK Government made representations calling for the imposition of additional EU financial measures against Iran at the recent GAERC meeting of European Union Foreign Ministers; and what the Government's policy is on such measures.

Margaret Beckett: EU Foreign Ministers discussed Iran only briefly at the 22 January General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC). With the UK's full support, they agreed that in order to ensure effective implementation of measures in United Nations Security Council resolution (UNSCR) 1737, the EU should
	"prevent the export to and import from Iran of the goods on the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Missile Technology Control Regime lists; ban transactions with and freeze the assets of individuals and entities covered by the criteria in UNSCR 1737; ban travel to the EU of the individuals covered by these criteria; and take measures to prevent Iranian nationals from studying proliferation sensitive subjects within the EU".
	Officials are presently drafting a Common Position that will take this forward; it is likely to be discussed at the 12 February GAERC. We would like the EU to implement the measures, including the financial elements, robustly and effectively.

Iraq

Michael Connarty: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assistance and advice has been given to trade delegations by her Department wishing to go to  (a) Iraq and  (b) Iraqi Kurdistan to explore possible trade opportunities.

Kim Howells: Until December 2006, we advised British citizens against all but essential travel to the three Kurdish Regional Government (KRG)-administered provinces in Iraq. This advice included visits by trade delegations. Our consulate-general in Kirkuk and a representative from our embassy in Baghdad, nevertheless, met those delegations who decided to visit the region. These have recently included British Expertise (2 to 5 September 2006) and Middle East Association (10 to 15 November 2006). Our travel advice for the KRG region changed in December 2006. The change will allow UK Trade and Investment to provide commercial advice and assistance in respect of the region in future, in liaison with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
	We continue to advise against all travel to other parts of Iraq and have not been asked to give assistance or advice to UK trade delegations wishing to go elsewhere in the country. Details of our travel advice for Iraq can be found on the FCO website at:
	www.fco.gov.uk/travel/iraq.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports she has received on difficulties encountered by Iraqi businessmen in obtaining travel documents to travel and trade  (a) inside and  (b) outside Iraq; if she will review the documentation requirements of the UK to allow travel and trade by those businessmen; and if she will make a statement.

Liam Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
	The Secretary of State for the Home Department Office has received reports of the difficulties that Iraqi business and other Iraqi travellers state they face in obtaining Iraqi travel documents. The Home Office is charged with maintaining the security of the UK border and the integrity of UK border control. The responsibility for issuing travel documents to Iraqi nationals rests with the Iraqi authorities.
	The Iraqi authorities issue a number of travel documents, some of which are universally accepted abroad, others of which are not.
	The Iraqi S-series passport, originally introduced by the Interim Iraqi Government in 2004, may be used for travel to many countries in the immediate region and beyond and is available from regional offices in Iraq. However, the document is of poor quality with a lack of security features, making it highly vulnerable to counterfeiting or alteration. For that reason, acceptance of the S-series passport for travel to the United Kingdom was phased out between 1 September and 1 November 2006. There are no plans to reverse or review this decision which would open the UK to immigration abuse. The S-series is also not accepted by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Switzerland and the USA.
	The new G-series passport, issued from April 2006, includes modern security features and is acceptable for travel to the UK. In Iraq, the G-series is issued in Baghdad only but it can also be applied for at Iraqi missions abroad, including in London. There are also the N-series and H-series Iraqi passports. These are no longer issued but are acceptable for travel to the UK within their stated validity if issued prior to 19 March 2003 or if issued or revalidated after that date by the Coalition Provisional Authority or (in the case of the H-series only) by the Iraqi Interim Government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
	The UK Government continue to monitor the situation.

Iraq

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in what form and when the UK shared its experience from Northern Ireland with the government of Iraq; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: We have shared our experience from Northern Ireland with the Iraqi government in a variety of ways, sometimes formally, sometimes less so. Among recent examples are the following:
	during his visit to the UK in September 2006, Iraqi Minister of National Dialogue and Reconciliation Akram al-Hakim called on the Northern Ireland Office to discuss reconciliation and lessons learned in Northern Ireland;
	in November 2006, we arranged the visit of a broad delegation of Iraqi politicians, led by National Security Advisor Muwaffaq Al Rubai'e, to Northern Ireland. The visit included presentations and discussions from a range of politicians, clerics, security experts and academics/practitioners in the area of conflict resolution, as well as senior representatives of the Police Service of Northern Ireland; and
	Sir Ronnie Flanagan has visited Iraq three times since 2005 to work with police and others on governance and reconciliation.

Iraq

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what help and support the UK is providing to promote reconciliation and non-sectarianism in Iraqi politics.

Margaret Beckett: We have worked consistently in recent years to promote reconciliation between Iraq's communities and a non-sectarian approach both in government and more widely (notably in the Iraqi security forces).
	We have strongly supported the National Reconciliation Initiative launched by Prime Minister Maliki last year. We have recently provided an expert, funded by the Department for International Development, to advise the Iraqi government on reconciliation.
	We have also shared with the Iraqi government and political leaders our experience of the reconciliation process in Northern Ireland, for example by arranging for:
	Minister of National Dialogue and Reconciliation Akram al-Hakim to meet senior officials from the Northern Ireland Office during his visit to the UK in September 2006;
	a delegation of Iraqi politicians to visit Northern Ireland in November 2006, where they met with a range of politicians, clerics, security experts and academics/practitioners in the area of conflict resolution, as well as senior representatives of the Northern Ireland Police Service: and
	Sir Ronnie Flanagan to visit Iraq three times since 2005 to work with police and others on governance and reconciliation.

Israel: Frontiers

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made to the Israeli government on its plans to change the route of the separation wall eastwards away from the green line.

Kim Howells: We are concerned at reports that the Israeli government are considering changing the route of the barrier to incorporate two west bank settlements. We fully recognise Israel's right to self-defence, but the barrier's route should be on or behind the green line and not on occupied territory. Construction of the barrier on Palestinian land is illegal. The route is particularly damaging around east Jerusalem, as it risks cutting the city off from the west bank and dividing the west bank in two. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv raised this with Israeli Foreign Minister Livni's office and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs legal advisers on 31 January 2007.

Jeremy Crook

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made at  (a) ministerial and  (b) official level to the United States on the case of Jeremy Crook.

Kim Howells: No ministerial or official representations have been made to the United States on the case of Mr. Jeremy Crook. Consular assistance has been offered to him.

Jeremy Crook

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has made at  (a) ministerial and  (b) official level to the United States on the case of Jeremy Crook.

Kim Howells: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave him today (UIN 117770).

Kosovo

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with her Contact Group counterparts on the future status of Kosovo; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: The UK has worked in close partnership with Contact Group partners (US, France, Germany, Italy, Russia) to assist in efforts to achieve a lasting status settlement for Kosovo and the region.
	Contact Group Ministers last met in New York in September 2006, where we asked the UN Special Envoy, Martti Ahtisaari, to prepare a comprehensive proposal for a status settlement. Contact Group officials met on 26 January in Vienna, where they discussed the draft settlement with President Ahtisaari.
	We will continue to work closely with Contact Group partners to achieve the durable solution for Kosovo which will enhance regional stability and the region's Euro-Atlantic prospects.

Kosovo

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the decision on the final status of Kosovo will be made; and if she will make a statement.

Margaret Beckett: UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari took his Kosovo final status proposals to Belgrade and Pristina on 2 February. A period of intensive consultation will now follow.
	President Ahtisaari continues to enjoy the full support of the Government. We have every faith that his final status recommendations will provide the basis for a lasting settlement for Kosovo and the wider Balkans region.
	Ministers will keep the House appraised of developments.

Middle East

Sandra Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with the Israeli Government on Israel's policy towards Iran.

Kim Howells: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are in frequent contact with their Israeli counterparts about Iran. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary discussed Iran with her Israeli counterpart on 2 January. The UK has been working closely with international partners including Israel to encourage Iran to address the concerns and requests of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors and the UN Security Council concerning its nuclear programme.

Mohammed Dahlan

Phyllis Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions since 2004  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in her Department met Mohammed Dahlan; and where and when each meeting took place.

Kim Howells: The consul-general and other officials at our consulate-general in Jerusalem have regularly met Mohammed Dahlan in the course of their normal diplomatic business, to discuss security matters, Palestinian co-ordination with the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005 and political affairs. Since 2004, Ministers have met Mohammed Dahlan to discuss Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. The exact dates and locations of each meeting is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Montenegro

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions she has had with her counterparts in Montenegro since its independence.

Geoff Hoon: On 8 November 2006, I visited Podgorica where I met the President, Prime Minister, parliamentary speaker, and the outgoing and incoming Foreign Ministers.
	As the first British Minister to visit an independent Montenegro I welcomed their independence.

Nuclear Weapons

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of the implications of the UK's plans for the replacement of Trident for the negotiations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty on nuclear disarmament.

Kim Howells: The Government are strongly committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is the cornerstone of the nuclear non-proliferation regime. The White Paper on the Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent makes clear that renewing our minimum nuclear deterrent capability is fully consistent with all our international obligations, including under the NPT. It is also consistent with our continuing commitment to work towards a safer world in which there is no requirement for nuclear weapons.

Nuclear Weapons

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had on  (a) enforcement and  (b) enhancement of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Kim Howells: The UK is committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime. The unanimous adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737 on Iran was an important indication of the international community's determination to enforce the NPT whenever and wherever it is challenged. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary was involved in a number of important discussions in the negotiation of this resolution. The current NPT review cycle runs from 2007 to 2010. The UK will be fully involved in discussions to achieve an outcome at the review conference in 2010 which effectively enhances the NPT.

Overseas Convictions and Arrests

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1405W, on overseas convictions and arrests, to which agency information on foreign offences was submitted prior to the establishment of the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Kim Howells: Prior to the establishment of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office notified the National Criminal Intelligence Service where we were aware of a British national being arrested or convicted of a serious crime overseas.

Palestine

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment she has made of progress by the Palestinian Authority towards the requirements set out by the Middle East Quartet in its statement of 30 January 2006.

Margaret Beckett: We remain deeply concerned that neither the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, nor Hamas as a movement, have committed to the Quartet's (EU, US, UN and Russia) three principles: to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept all previous agreements and obligations.
	As we have indicated before, we are ready to work with any Palestinian Government based on the Quartet conditions. So far, Hamas has continued to reject these. In the meantime, we will continue to support President Abbas' efforts to improve the safety, security and prosperity of the Palestinian people.

Saudi Arabia

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the next round of the Two Kingdoms Dialogue with Saudi Arabia is to be held.

Margaret Beckett: We are currently discussing with Saudi Arabia the dates for the next Two Kingdoms Dialogue. We hope that this event will be held around October 2007.

Sri Lanka

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations she has received on peace talks between the Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan Government held in Geneva in 2006; and if she will make a statement.

Kim Howells: Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in London and at our high commission in Colombo have regular contact with individuals and groups in the UK and Sri Lanka representing the views of Sri Lanka's Tamil population. In December 2006 and in January this year I met with representatives of the Tamil community for discussions on the peace process and the situation in Sri Lanka. In addition, I receive and reply to many written representations made by hon. Members on behalf of their Tamil constituents.
	We urge the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to return to the negotiating table and to work to prevent further deterioration of the security situation and the needless loss of more lives. It is essential that both sides commit to the cease-fire agreement and demonstrate this by acting to stop the violence, human rights abuses and bloodshed. The only viable route to a peaceful resolution of the Sri Lanka conflict is at the negotiating table. We fully support the role of the Norwegian Government in facilitating negotiations in furtherance of the peace process.

Sri Lanka

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions she has had with the Sri Lankan Government on the Tamil population of Sri Lanka.

Kim Howells: On 10 January, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs, Ian McCartney, who has responsibility for human rights in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, reiterated the Government's concerns about human rights in Sri Lanka to Rohitha Bogollagama, the then Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion when they met during his visit to London. Minister Bogollagama has recently been appointed as the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister.
	My hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development, Gareth Thomas, raised humanitarian, political and human rights with Minister Bogollagama when they also met on 10 January.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Advertising Campaigns

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what advertising campaigns his Department has run since July 2004; and what the  (a) date and  (b) cost was of each.

Peter Hain: The Northern Ireland Office has run the following advertising campaigns since July 2004:
	
		
			  Campaign  Date  Cost (£) 
			 Are you a victim of the Troubles Campaign March 2005 43,762.00 
			 Theft from Vehicles Campaign 15 November to 31 December 2004 88,918.96 
			 Unknown Callers TV advertisement 6 to 28 June 2005 56,597.00 
			 Theft from Vehicles Campaign 13 to 26 June 2005 15,146.41 
			 Community Safety Week 20 to 24 June 2005 26,196.00 
			 Unknown Callers TV advertisement 13 October to 16 November 2005 58,338.29 
			 Theft from Vehicles Campaign 21 November 2005 to 1 January 2006 71,219.16 
			 Recruitment for Chairman and membership of the Parades Commission July 2005 37,873.88 
			 Recruitment for membership of the Parades Commission November 2006 16,902.51 
			 Domestic Violence media campaign(1) August 2006, January 2007 50,000.00 
			 Knife Carrying Campaign(1) May 2006, December 2006 58,000.00 
			 Total  522,954.21 
			 (1) The Northern Ireland Office jointly funded these two campaigns with DHSSPS and PSNI. The amounts shown are the NIO's contributions to the campaigns.

British Food

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what proportion of food served in buildings occupied by his Department was of British origin in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Peter Hain: This information is not recorded and therefore it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Bus Services: Comber

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the level of absenteeism was of Translink staff working on the number 11 service in the past 12 months.

David Cairns: Translink has advised that this information is not available for a specific service, or indeed for the Comber sub-depot which operates service 11. Translink has, however, provided information on the level of absenteeism in the parent depot at Great Victoria Street, Belfast.
	In the period 1 December 2005 to 30 November 2006 the overall percentage of absenteeism was 9.18 per cent.

Bus Services: Comber

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many complaints Translink has received about the number 11 service to Comber.

David Cairns: Translink has advised that information is not available for the number 11 service alone. However, from 1 January 2006 until 31 December 2006, a total of 40 complaints were received regarding the two services which operate between Belfast and Comber (services 11 and 511).

Electoral Administration Act

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reason the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2, Transitional and Savings Provision) Order 2006 did not bring into force the reduction of the candidacy age to 18 in Northern Ireland.

David Hanson: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today to the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) (Table Office reference 110918).

Electoral Administration Act

David Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for what reasons the provisions of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 on the minimum age of candidates were not brought into effect in Northern Ireland in time for the forthcoming Assembly election; and if he will make a statement.

David Hanson: As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland announced on 29 January, the Government will shortly be commencing section 17 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 in Northern Ireland. This will bring the position in Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom by allowing 18-year-olds to stand for election. This will be in force in Northern Ireland in time for 18-year-olds who are eligible to stand as candidates to do so at the forthcoming Northern Ireland Assembly election.

Electoral Register

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many additional voters were added to the Electoral Register in each Northern Ireland constituency between the publication of the current registers and 11 January 2007.

David Hanson: The following table shows an overall increase from December 2006 to the current register, which will be in use for the forthcoming March election, of 3.8 per cent. This is an addition of 40,849 names to the electoral register.
	
		
			  Constituency  Register 1 December 2006  Revised register February 2007  Percentage change December 2006-February 2007 
			 Belfast, East 48,570 50,053 +3.1 
			 Belfast, North 47,369 49,629 +4.8 
			 Belfast, South 47,190 49,177 +4.2 
			 Belfast, West 45,923 51,057 +11.2 
			 East Antrim 55,658 57,025 +2.5 
			 East Londonderry 55,056 56,491 +2.6 
			 Fermanagh and South Tyrone 64,039 66,410 +3.7 
			 Foyle 62,521 65,430 +4.7 
			 Lagan Valley 68,430 70,654 +3.3 
			 Mid Ulster 59,358 61,783 +4.1 
			 Newry and Armagh 68,812 71,387 +3.7 
			 North Antrim 70,868 73,332 +3.5 
			 North Down 56,420 57,947 +2.7 
			 South Antrim 63,983 66,046 +3.2 
			 South Down 69,951 72,340 +3.4 
			 Strangford 65,504 67,158 +2.5 
			 Upper Bann 69,588 71,244 +2.4 
			 West Tyrone 55,876 58,802 +5.2 
			 Total 1,075116 1,115965 +3.8

Government Auctions

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland where his Department publishes information about Government auctions which it arranges or to which it contributes in  (a) Blackpool,  (b) Lancashire and  (c) the north west; and when the next such auction will take place in each area.

Peter Hain: The Northern Ireland Office does not arrange or contribute to auctions in  (a) Blackpool  (b) Lancashire or  (c) the north west.

Mental Health

Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the waiting list is for adolescent mental health beds in each health board area.

Paul Goggins: Mental Health in-patient services for adolescents are provided in only one trust in Northern Ireland, that being South and East Belfast HSS Trust. Information on the number of patients waiting for adolescent mental health in-patient treatment in South and East Belfast HSS Trust by Purchaser Health and Social Services Board is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Purchaser Health and Social Services Board  Provider trust  Number of patients waiting for adolescent mental health in-patient treatment 
			 Eastern South and East Belfast HSS Trust 4 
			 Northern South and East Belfast HSS Trust 2 
			 Southern South and East Belfast HSS Trust 0 
			 Western South and East Belfast HSS Trust 0 
			  Source:  South and East Belfast HSS Trust

Remploy

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many public contracts have been awarded in Northern Ireland to  (a) Remploy and  (b) other similar organisations since January 2006; and if he will take steps to increase the number of contracts awarded to such employers.

Maria Eagle: Remploy has not been awarded any contracts to deliver services in Northern Ireland. Ulster Supported Employment Ltd. (USEL) is an Executive non-departmental public body that provides similar services to Remploy. Since January 2006 USEL has been awarded 12 public contracts as a result of competitive tendering processes. There are no plans to take steps to increase the number of contracts awarded to USEL. USEL will be able to continue to bid to deliver contracted services as a result of competitive tendering processes.

Royal Prerogative of Mercy

Jeffrey M Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on how many occasions the royal prerogative of mercy has been used to pardon individuals who have been convicted of scheduled offences in relation to the situation in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

David Hanson: Since 2002 the royal prerogative of mercy has been granted to three individuals convicted of terrorist offences relating to Northern Ireland. All three were granted in 2002. In all of these cases, the RPM was used to remit a portion of a prison sentence and not to provide a pardon for the offences committed. There have been no such cases subsequently.

TRANSPORT

Central Trains

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will take steps to encourage Central Trains to respond to  (a) customer complaints and  (b) communications from hon. Members sent on behalf of their constituents in a timely and professional manner; and if he will make a statement.

Tom Harris: All operators are required to have a complaints handling procedure which sets out the response rates to complaints which they are required to meet. Central Trains figures for the latest period available indicates that 91 per cent. of complaints were responded to within the target period of three weeks.

M6: Lancashire

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether Lancashire county council carried out an integrated transport solution study for the Lancaster district before submitting the business case for the M6 Link Northern Route.

Stephen Ladyman: I understand that the potential for resolving the transport problems of Lancaster through an integrated transport solution was considered by Lancashire county council in the early part of the development of proposals for a link between Heysham and the M6. The Lancaster Transportation study concluded that a number of coordinated measures, including a new road link to the M6 and a number of other measures such as quality bus routes, cycle routes and park and ride, would be necessary to deal with the transport problems of Lancaster.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many vehicles there are in each road tax classification in the London borough of Bexley.

Stephen Ladyman: The following table contains the number of vehicles for each road tax classification as at 30 September 2006 registered in Bexley.
	
		
			  Taxation class  Category  Number 
			  Private   
			 TC11 Private 58,502 
			 TC36 Euro 4 light goods vehicles—private 249 
			 TC39 Light goods vehicles—Co2 private 5,554 
			 TC48 Petrol cars—Co2 private 34,810 
			 TC49 Diesel cars—Co2 private 8,557 
			 TC59 Alternative fuel cars—Co2 private 89 
			 TC10 Private HGV 73 
			 TC23 HGVCT (combined transport) 5 
			 TC53 HGVCT (combined transport reduced pollution) 1 
			
			  Motorcycles   
			 TC17 Bicycle 4,594 
			
			  Goods vehicles   
			 TC01 HGV 1,352 
			 TC45 HGV—reduced pollution 123 
			 TC02 Trailer HGV 12 
			 TC46 Trailer HGV—reduced pollution 2 
			
			  Public transport vehicles   
			 TC34 Bus 106 
			
			  Other licensed vehicles   
			 TC14 Special vehicles 132 
			 TC47 Recovery 57 
			 TC50 Tricycle 34 
			 TC55 General haulage 1 
			 TC56 General haulage—reduced pollution 1 
			 TC57 Special type 6 
			
			  Exempt categories—no licence   
			 TC60 Crown vehicles 4 
			 TC61 Not licensed 444 
			 TC65 Ambulance 7 
			 TC66 Fire engine 1 
			
			  Exempt categories—nil licence   
			 TC77 Limited use 1 
			 TC78 Disabled 2,884 
			 TC85 Disabled passenger carrying vehicle 87 
			 TC87 NHS vehicles 1 
			 TC88 Over 25 years 800 
			
			  Exempt categories: former special concessionary group  
			 TC37 Steam vehicles 1 
			 TC40 Agricultural machine 19 
			 TC44 Mowing machine 8 
			 TC79 Electric 10 
			 TC81 Gritting vehicle 13 
			
			  Total   118,540

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's latest estimate is of the number of  (a) untaxed and  (b) unlicensed vehicles; and what steps he is taking to reduce the numbers.

Stephen Ladyman: Following a 2006 roadside survey of vehicle excise duty evasion, statisticians estimate that there are 2.19 million untaxed/unlicensed vehicles in Great Britain. Licensing and taxation are in practice the same.
	The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has a clear strategy to tackle evaders. Those who fail to re-tax are identified from the DVLA record and issued with a penalty notice. Those who continue to fail to re-tax or pay the penalty are targeted through a national wheel clamping operation, the use of automatic number plate reader (ANPR) technology and special operations with the police, local authorities and other enforcement bodies.
	In addition, DVLA has a telephone hotline facility whereby the public can inform DVLA of untaxed vehicles in their area.
	Since the 2006 roadside survey was conducted, DVLA has:
	Doubled the capacity of its wheel clamping operation from 50,000 to 100,000 per annum;
	Recruited an additional 50 enforcement field officers to trace untaxed vehicles;
	Increased to 86 the number of local authorities and police forces operating local wheel clamping schemes in respect of untaxed vehicles; and
	Initiated a debt collection trial to target those who have not paid the penalty for failing to tax their vehicle on time.
	DVLA is currently conducting further research to establish the cause of this recent rise in evasion and will be reviewing its enforcement strategy accordingly in order to target evaders more effectively.

MSC Napoli

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the distance was between the location of the MSC Napoli and  (a) Portland and  (b) Cherbourg at the time it was first taken under the control of (i) the coastguard and (ii) a salvage company.

Stephen Ladyman: In accordance with the Anglo-French Joint Maritime Contingency Plan (Mancheplan), HM Coastguard had been monitoring the situation involving the MSC Napoli together with the French search and rescue (SAR) authorities from the outset of the incident. Co-ordination of the incident was passed to the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Falmouth from the French co-ordination at CROSS Corsen at approximately 16:10 on 19 January 2007 when the MSC Napoli passed over the UK/French median line. At this point the ship was approximately 60 nautical miles from Portland and Cherbourg. Taking all the environmental and safety factors into account, the French authorities were unable to identify a suitable place of refuge on the French coast within about 200 nautical miles.
	A salvage contract was agreed at 14:45 on 19 January 2007, when the ship was still in French waters and approximately 110 nautical miles from Portland and Cherbourg.

MSC Napoli

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport why the MSC Napoli was diverted to a British port while under the control of a French salvage company.

Stephen Ladyman: I refer the hon. Member to the oral statement I made to the House on 1 February 2007,  Official Report, columns 376-78.

Official Cars

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the charge was to each Government Department for hire of official cars in 2005-06; and what the total man hours were of the drivers in that year.

Stephen Ladyman: This information can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Road Safety: Novice Drivers

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will set targets on reducing death and injury by young and novice drivers as part of his Department's road safety strategy.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department is concerned to reduce deaths and injury among the whole population. We do not plan now to add new targets to the 2010 targets that were set out in the March 2000 strategy: "Tomorrow's Roads: Safe for Everyone". However, young and novice drivers are a key theme of the second three-year review of the strategy which we aim to publish shortly.

Roads: Summer Heat

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to prevent disintegration of roads from the sun's heat during the summer.

Stephen Ladyman: The Highways Agency is progressively re-surfacing the English trunk road network with deformation resisting material. Over 30 per cent. has been completed to date. To combat temperature rise in future years, a more deformation resistant base material has also recently been introduced into Highway Agency standards, to be used in combination with the surfacing when appropriate.
	Maintenance of local roads in England is the responsibility of the local highway authority. The Department endorses Well Maintained Highways, the code of practice for local authority highway management (TSO, July 2005) published by the UK Roads Board. This advises local highway authorities to take account of the possibility of higher temperatures affecting the UK's local highway network in the future.
	The code contains guidance for local authorities on dealing with the effect of high temperatures on road surfaces. Authorities are advised to be aware, from inventory, inspection and other information, of the relative risks to parts of their network from excessive heat, and to establish priorities for treatment based on this assessment.

Taxis: Children

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many accidents involving taxis with children as passengers there have been in  (a) Scotland and  (b) Great Britain in the last 10 years.

Stephen Ladyman: The number of reported personal injury road accidents involving taxis with child (aged 0-15) passenger casualties in  (a) Scotland and  (b) Great Britain in the last 10 years is given as follows:
	
		
			  Number of accidents involving taxis with child (aged 0-15) passenger casualties: 1996-2005 
			   (a) Scotland  (b) Great Britain 
			 1996 15 99 
			 1997 7 82 
			 1998 17 85 
			 1999 11 102 
			 2000 10 117 
			 2001 11 82 
			 2002 10 68 
			 2003 17 76 
			 2004 9 67 
			 2005(1) 8 93 
			 (1) Includes private hire cars from 2005

Taxis: Children

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what factors were taken into account when deciding to exempt taxis from the new regulations governing the use of child car seats.

Stephen Ladyman: Following public consultation on the proposals to update the seat belt wearing legislation, we accepted that that it would be unreasonable to expect taxis or private hire vehicles always to have the correct number and size of child restraints and that those travelling with children cannot always provide their own. The terms of Directive 2003/20/EC, which updates the seat belt wearing requirements established by Directive 1991/671/EEC, allow an exemption for taxis where the correct child seat is not available.

Taxis: Children

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will break down the number of accidents involving taxis with children as passengers in the last 10 years in  (a) Scotland and  (b) Great Britain by the vehicle body type.

Stephen Ladyman: The number of reported personal injury road accidents involving taxis with child (aged 0-15) passenger casualties in  (a) Scotland and  (b) Great Britain in each of the last 10 years broken down by taxi body type is given as follows:
	
		
			   Estate  Saloon  Taxi( 1)  Unknown body type 
			  (a) Scotland 
			 1996 1 6 4 4 
			 1997 0 7 0 0 
			 1998 1 3 9 4 
			 1999 0 5 4 2 
			 2000 1 6 1 2 
			 2001 2 1 3 5 
			 2002 1 4 3 2 
			 2003 1 5 6 5 
			 2004 1 3 4 1 
			 2005 0 5 3 0 
			  
			  (b) Great Britain 
			 1996 2 40 32 25 
			 1997 3 35 31 13 
			 1998 6 31 35 13 
			 1999 8 47 30 17 
			 2000 11 56 31 19 
			 2001 12 31 26 13 
			 2002 9 22 30 7 
			 2003 10 26 23 17 
			 2004 9 30 15 13 
			 2005 16 37 20 20 
			 (1 )Purpose built taxi

Transport Innovation Fund

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the Transport Innovation Fund bid from Shropshire County Council; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Ladyman: No bid has been received from Shropshire county council for the Transport Innovation Fund. However, in October 2005 Shropshire bid for funding to support initial scheme development for TIF, and again for further development funding in July 2006. In both cases the bids were successful.

Transport: Finance

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the regional funding allocation process that included regional priority road schemes in 2006 is to be repeated in  (a) 2007-08 and  (b) future years.

Stephen Ladyman: In his response of 6 July 2006 to the advice from the regions on regional funding allocations, the Secretary of State said that he expected to seek further formal advice on regional transport priorities within the next two years. That remains the case. In the interim the Department expects to request ad hoc advice from the regions from time to time on individual scheme decisions as necessary. The exercise included public transport schemes as well as road schemes.

DEFENCE

Aldermaston

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the projected cost is of the AWE development plan at Aldermaston; what the expected duration of the project is; how expenditure has been committed to the project to date; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The Government will continue to make the necessary investment at AWE Aldermaston to ensure that it has the facilities and skills to meet our current and possible future requirements. We will continue to make the necessary investment in the establishment for as long as these requirements endure. The Government announced on 19 July 2005,  Official Report, column 59WS, that investment at AWE would increase by an average of some £350 million per year for the years up to and including 2007-08. Details of investment at AWE for the period beyond 2007-08 will be determined over the next year, following this year's comprehensive spending review.
	As the White Paper, 'The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent' published in December 2006, made clear, further investment at AWE will be necessary and early in the next decade the costs of AWE are likely—at their peak—to be the equivalent of about 3 per cent. of the current defence budget.

Boarding School Allowance

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence in respect of how many children  (a) Army,  (b) Air Force and  (c) Royal Navy personnel received boarding school allowance in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what the percentage change was in each year.

Derek Twigg: The number of children benefiting from continuity of education allowance are only available for the last three years. This is due to the ongoing work to transfer data from legacy administrative systems to Joint Personnel Administration.
	
		
			  Spring term   Service children benefiting from CEA  Percentage change from previous year 
			 2004 Royal Navy 1,377 n/a 
			  Army 4,280 n/a 
			  Royal Air Force 2,372 n/a 
			  Total 8,029 n/a 
			 
			 2005 Royal Navy 1,377 0 
			  Army 4,289 +0.22 
			  Royal Air Force 2,220 -6.85 
			 
			  Total 7,886 -1.8 
			 
			 2006 Royal Navy 1,410 +2.41 
			  Army 4,092 -4.82 
			  Royal Air Force 2,113 -5.11 
			  Total 7,615 -3.56 
			 n/a = Not available

Cadets: School Leaving

Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has for the future of the Gap Year Commission in the British Army.

Derek Twigg: holding answer 1 February 2007
	Each year about 60 officers complete a Gap Year Commission, of whom some 20 to 25 convert to Short Service Commissions.
	As the scheme is relatively expensive to run, and the Army has other means of graduate recruitment it was considered a lower priority and hence will not be funded once the current intake of young officers complete their attachments in mid 2007.
	The Army continues to recruit the best young graduates through other schemes such as the University Officers Training Corps.

Departmental IT

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many attempts to gain unauthorised access to his Department's computer systems have  (a) been detected and  (b) succeeded in each of the last five years.

Adam Ingram: External access from the internet to the Ministry of Defence's internal computer systems is channelled through a number of gateways. These gateways register constant external activity, including port scanning and the use of automated probes. Most of this activity is not identifiably targeting our networks; nor is it necessarily malicious. We focus on those attacks which have penetrated our gateways and have triggered incident response actions designed to limit any damage and reduce the risk of a recurrence.
	There have been nine confirmed incidents of penetration of the Department's internal computer systems over the last five years. Details by year are given on the following table:
	
		
			   Number of incidents reported 
			 2002 1 
			 2003 2 
			 2004 1 
			 2005 0 
			 2006 5 
			 2007 (1)0 
			 (1) As at 31 January 2007.

Departmental IT

David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether any corrupt data have been detected on his Department's computer systems in the last 12 months.

Adam Ingram: I assume that the hon. Member's question relates to the detection of deliberate attempts to corrupt data held on MOD computer systems, and not to routine virus 'infections' or other inadvertent and internally-generated instances of data corruption, that are liable to occur on any complex computer network.
	To date, there are no reported incidents of deliberate data corruption held on the MOD's central IT incident database, which has been in operation since 2003.

Departmental IT

Patrick Mercer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much it cost to clean the departmental computer stations affected by the Sasser worm in April and May 2004.

Derek Twigg: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 84W. No such incidents were reported on MOD computer systems therefore no additional costs were incurred.

Housing

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 23 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1630W, on housing, if he will provide a breakdown of the service accommodation in Hampshire by type of property.

Adam Ingram: The information requested is currently being collated and checked. I will write to the hon. Member as soon as this is complete and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Meat Supplies

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1631W, on meat supplies, what percentage of  (a) poultry,  (b) gammon and  (c) bacon products supplied to the British armed forces has been bought from British farms.

Adam Ingram: Since the beginning of the current contract in October 2006, 2 per cent. of poultry by value supplied to the British armed forces has been bought from British farms. All gammon and bacon products are imported.

Medical Regiments

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average period of rest between operational tours for members of the medical regiments was in each of the last three years.

Adam Ingram: The average period of rest between operational tours for members of the Army's five medical regiments over the last three years was 30 months. The breakdown, by regiment, is as follows:
	
		
			  Serial  Unit  Tour interval (months) 
			 1 1 Close Support Medical Regiment 24 
			 2 3 Close Support Medical Regiment 30 
			 3 4 General Support Medical Regiment 48 
			 4 5 General Support Medical Regiment 12 
			 5 16 Close Support Medical Regiment 36 
		
	
	5 General Support Medical Regiment has deployed in sub-units, rather than as a regiment. This has meant that for some sub-unit personnel tour intervals have been as low as 12 months, but this is not the case for all personnel in the regiment.

Met Office

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the annual budget of the Meteorological Office was in each year since 1977; and what budget has been allocated to the office for each of the next five years.

Adam Ingram: The annual revenue of the Met Office since 1977 is contained in the following tables. Prior to 1996, the cost of the Met Office was borne on the Defence Vote to which all receipts from non-MOD customers were also credited. Following the Met Office commencing operation as a Trading Fund in 1996, funding received from the MOD is included within turnover.
	It is important that MOD regularly reviews its spending plans, balances relative priorities and drives efficiency in public spending. Ministerial decisions on the forward Defence programme will be taken in the first quarter of 2007, and appropriate announcements on the outcome of the planning round will be made in that time frame.
	
		
			  Financial year  Turnover (£) 
			 2005-06 170,361,000 
			 2004-05 165,580,000 
			 2003-04 160,775,000 
			 2002-03 157,398,000 
			 2001-02 154,759,000 
			 2000-01 154,413,000 
			 1999-2000 151,013,000 
			 1998-99 152,875,000 
			 1997-98 154,784,000 
			 1996-97 151,987,000 
		
	
	
		
			  Financial year  Receipts( 1)  (£)  Net expenditure( 2)  (£) 
			 1995-96 59,700 104,300,000 
			 1994-95 57,000 91,400,000 
			 1993-94 54,900 97,500,000 
			 1992-93 50,200 91,800,000 
			 1991-92 44,200 77,800,000 
			 1990-91 39,300 70,900,000 
			 1989-90 32,700 72,800,000 
			 1988-89 28,700 62,518,000 
			 1987-88 25,802 58,335,000 
			 1986-87 23,608 57,221,000 
			 1985-86 21,755 51,903,000 
			 1984-85 20,918 47,497,000 
			 1983-84 18,929 44,092,000 
			 1982-83 17,420 38,264,000 
			 1981-82 16,680 35,629,000 
			 1980-81 15,762 34,715,000 
			 1979-80 12,897 27,086,000 
			 1978-79 11,287 25,330,000 
			 1977-78 8,747 20,017,000 
			 1976-77 8,400 19,900,000 
			 (1) Receipts from non-MOD customers. (2) Net expenditure represents the cost of the Met Office borne by the Defence Vote (after deducting receipts from non-MOD customers).

Military Vehicles

Owen Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost, excluding the cost of the weapon, is of providing the Defender Remote Weapon Station on the Panther Future Command Liaison Vehicle; and what protection the station affords from sniper fire.

Adam Ingram: Protection is provided by the vehicles' armour and the Enforcer Remote Weapon Station, which provides defensive fire for the user. I am withholding the cost of the weapon station as its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests.

Naval Deployment: Gulf

William Hague: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what changes have been made to the UK naval posture in the Gulf region following the US decision to deploy an additional aircraft strike carrier group to the Gulf.

Adam Ingram: There has been no change to UK's naval posture in the Gulf region following the deployment of the US Carrier Group.

NHS Treatment: War Pensioners

Mark Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2007 to question 115272, on NHS treatment: war pensioners, with which health authorities his Department has taken up cases of war pensioners not receiving priority treatment in the last 12 months; what methods his Department uses to take up such cases; and whether officials in the Veterans Agency take up cases with health authorities.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 2 February 2007
	Officials take up cases with the relevant health authority in respect of war pensioners where it is alleged that there is an issue around the provision of priority treatment. Formal records identifying the individual health authorities in each case are not kept. The methods used by the Department to take up these cases are mainly a combination of telephone and correspondence.

Overseas Accommodation

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the condition of accommodation overseas for members of the armed services and their families.

Adam Ingram: Much has been invested in both single-living and family accommodation for service personnel, but much still needs to be done to ensure that all our accommodation is of a standard fit for the 21st century. We ask much of our armed forces, it is only right that we look after both them and their families both at home and abroad.
	The condition of the overseas accommodation estate is varied. However, plans are in place to provide higher grade accommodation where appropriate.
	In Germany, improvement schemes such as the hired accommodation revitalisation programme, the programme of upgrade of married accommodation (PUMA) and the short term accommodation review (STAR) have been put in place. Accommodation to be improved is being targeted on a worse first basis, dependant on the availability of units for redevelopment. 937 of the worst hired service families accommodation (SFA) units will have been replaced, or upgraded, by March 2007. A total of 1,557 SFA properties and 1,655 single living accommodation (SLA) bed spaces will have been upgraded and modernised under project PUMA by March 2007.
	In Cyprus, a programme of Ministry of Defence funded construction of 269 new build SFA is due to commence in the summer. In parallel, a refurbishment programme of the remaining houses will begin later in the year. In Gibraltar, 74 new build SFA are due for completion next year and the refurbishment of the remaining facilities is programmed to follow. In the Falkland Islands, construction has just started on an additional 12 houses, with another two per annum to be provided by the Falkland Islands government.
	For SLA, there are major improvement programmes under way in both Cyprus and Gibraltar. In the south Atlantic, an operational theatre consideration is being given to the re-provision of existing SLA.

UK Armed Forces Veterans Lapel Badge

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) men and  (b) women have received the UK Armed Forces Veterans Lapel Badge in each year since its introduction, broken down by branch of the armed forces.

Adam Ingram: Prior to August 2006 the information requested was not held in the format requested and therefore the Veterans Agency cannot identify how many men and women in each year have received the Veterans Lapel Badge broken down by service.
	However, I can confirm that from May 2004, when the scheme was introduced, to 17 April 2005 a total of 82,000 badges were issued. From 18 April 2005 to March 2006, 139,786 badges were issued and from April 2006 to 18 December 2006, 133,708 were issued; a combined total of approximately 355,500.
	From 18 August 2006 the Veterans Agency introduced a new database which enables limited analysis of the applications. It is now possible to give details of how many Veterans' badges have been awarded to personnel who served in each of the armed forces. The figures from 18 August 2006 to 18 December 2006 are shown in the table:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Army 34,376 
			 Home Guard 48 
			 Marines 675 
			 Royal Navy 5,964 
			 Royal Air Force 14,439 
		
	
	The Veterans Agency data do not make the distinction between male and female recipients.

Used Oil Disposals

Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what the cost to his Department of the disposal of used oil from military bases in the UK was in the last period for which figures are available;
	(2)  how much oil from military bases in the UK was used for the production of biodiesel used by his Department in the last period for which figures are available.

Adam Ingram: holding answer 30 January 2007
	The MOD is currently investigating recycling used cooking oils as bio-diesel. No such fuel has yet been produced.
	At present cooking oils are disposed of from MOD sites locally, usually through multi-activity contracts. Costs associated with such disposal activity are not routinely recorded but are estimated to be in the region of £100,000 per year.
	The MOD disposes of used fuel oils via a specialist contractor for onward sale for use as marine diesel, for use in the domestic heating market or disposed of as incinerator fuel. Over 4,500 tonnes of fuel oil has been disposed of in the past six months in this way. Under the terms of the contract the MOD receives a percentage of the revenue generated and there is therefore no net cost to the Department from this disposal activity.

War Graves: Derby

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will seek an assessment of whether war graves within the city of Derby are adequately maintained to provide a fitting environment in which to commemorate the deceased Royal Marine recently returned from Iraq.

Adam Ingram: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission is responsible for the maintenance of the war graves of British and Commonwealth personnel and is not aware of any concerns over maintenance in the Derby area.
	The graves of personnel who have died in military service outside the first and second world war, or their immediate aftermath, are classified as non-war graves. The location and choice of funeral and burial arrangements for serving military personnel is a matter of personal choice for the individual's immediate family or executor.
	If the family elect to have a headstone supplied and paid for at public expense, such graves will be maintained in perpetuity by the Ministry of Defence.

Works of Art

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1372W, on works of art, whether information on works of art stolen has been provided to the Arts Loss Register to assist recovery.

Derek Twigg: There is only a requirement to report a theft to the Art Loss Registry if it is a publicly owned work of art. All of the thefts within the last 10 years are of works that have been donated to regiments or were privately owned. A decision to report any loss has therefore been on a case-by-case basis.

DUCHY OF LANCASTER

Civil Service Bill

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 
	(1)  when the Prime Minister first undertook to bring forward a Civil Service Bill; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  when she expects to publish the results of the consultation on the draft Civil Service Bill.

Hilary Armstrong: The background to the publication of the Government's Consultation Document on a draft Civil Service Bill set out in Command Paper 6373, a copy of which is available in the Library for the reference of Members. The Government will make a statement in due course.

Committee on Standards in Public Life

Ken Purchase: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost was to the public purse of the Committee on Standards in Public Life in 2006-07.

Hilary Armstrong: As an NDPB of the Cabinet Office, the Committee's costs for 2006-07 will be available in the Cabinet Office's 2006-07 resource accounts. These should be published shortly before the 2007 summer recess.

Cross-departmental Databases

Oliver Heald: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what plans the Government have to  (a) amend data-sharing rules and  (b) facilitate (i) cross-departmental databases of personal data and (ii) cross-departmental transfer of personal data.

Vera Baird: I have been asked to reply.
	The Information-sharing Vision Statement, published in September 2006, made clear that the Government are committed to greater data sharing to fight crime; deliver better public services; provide opportunities for the disadvantaged; and in other instances, where it is in the public interest. We will ensure that robust safeguards are in place to protect personal information before, during and after it is shared.
	There are no current over-arching plans for facilitating cross-departmental databases, or transfer, of personal data. This, as with cross-departmental transfer of personal data, remains a matter for agreement between Departments and agencies on a case-by-case basis, via appropriate specific legislation.

Departmental Contracts

John Grogan: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which public affairs firms have been given contracts by  (a) her Department and  (b) public bodies sponsored by her Department in the last five years; and what the purpose was of each contract.

Hilary Armstrong: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Economic Dynamism

Theresa May: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the Prime Minister's announcement on 16 January 2007 on the six policy review working groups, who will chair the review of Economic Dynamism.

Hilary Armstrong: The strand of the policy review on economic dynamism is steered by the full Cabinet, with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Productivity and Competitiveness (EAPC) following up with more detailed work. EAPC is chaired by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were breached by  (a) adults and  (b) children in the most recent year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 30 January 2007
	ASBO breach data are available up to 31 December 2005 (latest available). For ASBOs issued between 1 June 2000 and 31 December 2005, 2,037 adults (defined as aged 18 or over at the time the breach was proved in court) and 1,353 children (defined as aged 10 to 17 at the time the breach was proved in court) breached their ASBO at least once during 2005.

Asylum Decisions

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what his response is to the proposal by the Chairman of the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Immigration that there should be an independent element in asylum decisions.

Liam Byrne: Mary Coussey, Chairman of the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Immigration, recommended that there should be an independent element in initial asylum decisions in paragraph 3.30 of the 4(th) Annual Report completed in her other role as Independent Race Monitor. The report and the Home Secretary's response can be found on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) website at:
	http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/independent_race_mon.
	The Home Secretary rejected this proposal in his response to the Race Monitor's annual report 2005-06 in November 2006, which is published on the same webpage. However, he indicated that we were considering a new approach to the substantive asylum interview to allow the claimant's legal adviser to play a more significant role. To this end we are currently piloting and evaluating an approach in Solihull which encourages legal representatives to work with the case owner to ensure all relevant evidence is correctly identified and taken into account before the asylum decision is made.

Asylum Decisions

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers have been taken from detention centres to  (a) Heathrow,  (b) Stansted and  (c) other airports and then taken back to the detention centre in each of the last 24 months; why the decision was made to return the individual to a detention centre in each case; and what the cost was of each such incident.

Liam Byrne: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained by examination of individual records only at disproportionate cost.

Asylum Seekers

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what factors are taken into account when deciding to use dawn raids to detain failed asylum seekers with families; whether he authorises dawn raids; and whether he is notified in advance that such dawn raids are to be made and on whom;
	(2)  whether the medical needs of failed asylum seekers are examined by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate before a dawn raid is authorised;
	(3)  if he will publish the instructions given to Immigration and Nationality Directorate officers on the use of dawn raids as a method of detaining asylum seekers.

Liam Byrne: The factors to be taken into account when deciding the timing of a family detention visit are whether it is the best time of day to pick up the whole family as an entire unit, the sensitivity of the immigration visit, whether there may be community or other local difficulties, and whether the purpose of the visit would be frustrated if carried out at a different time. Chapters 46 and 47 of the Operational Enforcement Manual (OEM), available on the IND website at www.homeoffice.gov.uk set out the levels of authority of enforcement visits, including when Ministers are advised of forthcoming operations.
	Immigration officers are instructed, in chapter 58 of the OEM, to take into account any medical or special needs before a detention visit takes place, and in particular to ensure that the condition is not one which will prevent detention or removal.
	Instructions to immigration officers on the timing of detention visits is contained in the Operational Enforcement Manual (OEM) which is published on the IND website

Asylum Seekers

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the dispersal of section 4 asylum seekers out of London.

Liam Byrne: The dispersal of failed asylum seekers supported under section four of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 out of London is a result of the transfer from national s4 contracts to new regional target contracts. The regional target contracts provide improved value for money and require providers to meet defined accommodation standards.

Asylum Seekers

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether training is given to Immigration and Nationality Directorate staff engaged on dawn raids on asylum seekers with regard to  (a) forcible entry,  (b) restraint and control,  (c) assessment of medical conditions,  (d) interpretation skills,  (e) grief counselling and  (f) anger management.

Liam Byrne: The Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) does not conduct 'raids' against asylum seekers. Officers undertake operational visits to detain and remove persons who no longer have the right to remain in the UK and do so in line with operational policy and guidance.
	IND staff conducting immigration enforcement work are provided with full training in their powers prior to commencing enforcement work. Forced entry is currently only undertaken by specifically trained immigration officers and police officers working alongside immigration teams.
	IND enforcement officers have the power to use force to control and/or restrain under section 146 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. Any use of force is governed by this legislation and must be reasonable, necessary and proportionate. Current policy is that only staff who have undergone arrest training and been personally authorised by the Director of Enforcement can exercise these powers.
	Known medical conditions are highlighted and considered as part of the planning for the enforcement visit. If a medical condition is identified which requires specialist assistance, this is incorporated into the plan for the visit.
	Many IND staff are able to converse in foreign languages. Interpreters are used when appropriate.
	IND enforcement staff do not undergo any specific training in grief counselling, however as part of their general training they are taught to deal with all people encountered in a polite and sensitive manner.
	Officers do not receive specific training in their own anger management however both the initial training and the annual refresher training that arrest trained officers are required to undergo and successfully complete require them to demonstrate their ability to remain professional and objective when dealing with difficult, emotional scenarios.

Asylum: Morecambe

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum cases from Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency were processed by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in the last 12 months.

Liam Byrne: Information on numbers of asylum applications relating to particular areas of the UK are unavailable. Statistics on the location of asylum seekers in the UK are linked to the available information on the support that the asylum seeker receives.
	The numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of support from IND, broken down by Government Office region and local authority, are published on a quarterly and annual basis, as are asylum decisions in the UK as a whole. The latest publication covering the third quarter of 2006 is available on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html. Further breakdowns, of those in receipt of support from IND, by parliamentary constituency are also available from the Library of the House.

Consultants

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which external consultants were used by  (a) his Department and  (b) each of its agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and what the nature and cost of the work was in each case.

Liam Byrne: The external consultants used by  (a) the Department and  (b) its Executive agencies in relation to private finance initiatives in 2005-06; and the nature and cost of the work in each case is shown in the table:
	
		
			  Consultancy  Nature of work  Cost (£) 
			  (a) Department   
			 Deloittes Financial advice on Altcourse/Lowdham houseblocks 70,500 
			 Jacobs Gibbs Independent declaration advice on Altcourse/Lowdham houseblocks 86,460 
			 Mouchel MGT Independent declaration advice on landscaping and market testing and outsourcing PFI 26,081 
			 AON Insurance advice on all PFI prisons 9,360 
			 Turner & Townsend Monitoring Surveyors and Contract Management advisers for the 2 Marsham Street PFI Contract 450,000 
			
			  (b) Agencies   
			 Brewer Consulting To advise on a programme of work and quantum issues in relation to a claim submitted by the contractor 18,500

Correspondence

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many letters to his Department sent from hon. Members during Session 2005-06 remain unanswered, broken down by those which are  (a) one,  (b) two,  (c) three,  (d) four and  (e) over six months old.

Liam Byrne: On 23 January 2007 there were 287 items of unanswered MP's correspondence received during the 2005-06 session. Of these 264 were with IND, 19 with the central Home Office and four with HM Prison Service.
	A breakdown by the number of months overdue is given in the following table.
	The Cabinet Office, on an annual basis, publishes a report to Parliament on the performance of departments in replying to Members'/Peers' correspondence. The Report for 2005 was published on 30 March 2006,  Official Report, columns 75-78WS. Information relating to 2006 is currently being collated and will be published as soon as it is ready.
	
		
			   Central HO  HMPS  INDMC2  Total 
			 Over 1 month old 10 1 113 124 
			 Over 2 months old 3 2 75 80 
			 Over 3 months old 3 0 49 52 
			 Over 4 months old 2 0 21 23 
			 Over 5 months old 0 0 1 1 
			 Over 6 months 1 1 5 7 
			 Total 19 4 264 287

Departmental Expenditure

Brooks Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much his Department spent on buying, operating and supporting  (a) all commercial software products and  (b) software products produced by Microsoft in each of the last three years.

Liam Byrne: The choice of software to meet the business needs of the Home Office now largely rests with its strategic IST suppliers who are contracted, largely under the Private Finance Initiative (and PPP arrangements), to meet business requirements and provide value for money solutions. In the main, the Home Office no longer chooses specific software. This factor, combined with the large number of computer systems operated by the Department prevent us from providing total expenditure figures for commercial software products.
	Within our business requirements the Home Office ensures that any technical choices should meet relevant government software standards and provide for interoperability with our public and business partners.

Departmental Expenditure

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of expenditure by his Department in each Government Office region in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: Expenditure of the department and its executive agencies' benefits all areas of Great Britain. The department does not hold data on this expenditure at the level of Government Office regions. To provide such a level of detail could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	A regional breakdown of Home Office expenditure is available in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2006 (CM 6811), chapter seven—Analysis of public expenditure by country and region. The breakdown is based on Treasury and Office of National Statistics country and regional areas.

Driving Offences: Insurance

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to prevent people driving without insurance in  (a) Lancashire and  (b) England.

Stephen Ladyman: I have been asked to reply.
	The steps being taken are the same in both Lancashire and nationally, and I refer to the answer I gave to my right hon. Friend the Member for Warley (Mr. Spellar) on 22 November 2006,  Official Report, columns 93-94W.

Drug-related Robbery

Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many incidents of robbery reported to the police in 2006 were classified as drug-related crime.

Vernon Coaker: Data on offences of robbery recorded by the police are available from the recorded crime statistics. However, it is not possible to determine those that are drug-related as no information is collected on the circumstances surrounding the offences.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much was spent by each of his Department's executive agencies in each Government Office region in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: Expenditure of the Department and its executive agencies' benefits all areas of Great Britain. The Department does not hold data on this expenditure at the level of Government Office regions. To provide such a level of detail could be done only at disproportionate cost.
	A regional breakdown of Home Office expenditure is available in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis 2006 (CM 6811), chapter seven—Analysis of public expenditure by country and region. The breakdown is based on Treasury and Office for National Statistics country and regional areas.

Gosport War Memorial Hospital: Death

Peter Viggers: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police man-hours were involved in the most recent Hampshire constabulary investigation into alleged unlawful killings at Gosport War Memorial hospital; and at what cost.

Tony McNulty: This is an operational matter for the Hampshire constabulary.

Government Auctions

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department where his Department publishes information about Government auctions which it arranges or to which it contributes in  (a) Blackpool,  (b) Lancashire and  (c) the North West; and when the next such auction will take place in each area.

Liam Byrne: All disposals of plant and machinery are normally sold by public auction or tender in accordance with Government Accounting Instructions. Details of the Department's auctions are published in local newspapers and trade press as recommended on a case-by-case basis by the selling agents. There are currently no auctions planned for disposal of plant and machinery.
	Surplus land and buildings should be disposed within three years of being identified as surplus, and surplus residential properties should usually be sold within six months of becoming empty. If by then, no sale is in progress, such properties should be auctioned.
	The HMPS Custodial Estates have participated in five auctions during the current financial year of which two were in Manchester. They have one further auction planned this financial year in London in March 2007. These are all ordinary public auctions for residential property sales.
	Our estates department have informed us that there will be an auction of a property in Rawtenstall, Lancashire which is planned for the 22 May 2007. It is expected that the local press or trade press will be used to publish information about the auction.

Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he plans to take in response to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) Complaints Audit Committee's assessment of IND complaints handling; and what assessment he has made of the reasons why IND decisions were found to be indefensible, with particular reference to asylum seekers liable for deportation.

Liam Byrne: IND's complaints handling system is being completely overhauled through the Complaints Change Programme. This will ensure that complaints processes are in line with Cabinet Office guidance and the recommendations of the Complaints Audit Committee (CAC). The necessary changes will happen over the next 12-15 months
	The recommendations made by CAC with regard to investigations are a high priority for IND. Revised investigation standards are being drafted. The associated training which is vital to ensure these standards are understood and adhered to will also be developed within the Complaints Change Programme.
	New complaints procedures have already been introduced within the detention estate supported by guidance and training for contracted and Immigration Service (UKIS) staff. A separate unit managed by UKIS oversees the complaint process and investigates all complaints referred confidentially by detainees. In addition the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will provide an independent tier to the complaints process, and cases will continue to be audited by the CAC and their recommendations considered.
	The CAC recommend that as soon as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has assumed jurisdiction over IS Enforcement and Removals, all allegations of death, serious injury and breaches of Articles two and three of the ECHR should be referred to the police as set down. We have accepted this. Regulations and procedures are being developed with the CAC and IPCC as part of the Developing Enforcement Capability programme (DEC).

Immigration Enforcement Visits

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what statutory powers police and immigration officers carry out early morning immigration enforcement visits.

Liam Byrne: The purpose of an operational visit is to detain immigration offenders. The statutory powers to detain are found under paragraph 16(2) of Schedule two to the Immigration Act 1971 if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that directions may be given to remove them from the UK pending the decision to give such directions and/or pending his removal. Such a person or family member may be arrested without warrant under paragraph 17 of schedule two to that Act. A warrant may be granted, authorising any immigration officer or constable to enter, if need be by reasonable force, the premises named in the warrant for the purpose of searching for and arresting the person.

Leave to Remain

George Mudie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2006,  Official Report, column 777W, on leave to remain, what the date of application was in respect of the last case of a claim for extension of discretionary leave to remain decided upon by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate in each week from the week commencing 30 October 2006.

Liam Byrne: Records do not contain the time of a case decision, so where more than one decision was made in a day it is not possible to identify the last.

Mrs. Justina Obi Agu

Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when a decision will be reached on the application submitted by Mrs. Justina Obi Agu, reference 0110 2261.

Liam Byrne: I wrote to my right hon. Friend on 24 January 2007 giving a full summary of Mrs. Obi Agu's case.

National Police Plan

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will take steps to ensure that crimes against children are included in the list of police priorities in the national police plan.

Tony McNulty: Strategic priorities for the police service in England and Wales are set by the Home Secretary and published annually in the National Community Safety Plan www.crimereduction/gov/uk/ncsp. The current priorities do include the tackling of both serious crime and antisocial behaviour of which children are among the victims. Explicit reference is made in the National Community Safety Plan to the need to safeguard and promote children's welfare.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which non-departmental public bodies are sponsored by his Department; what the function is of each body; and what the budget was of each body in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Liam Byrne: Non-departmental public bodies sponsored by the Home Office, their function and the budget for each body are published as at 31 March of each year and published on the Cabinet Office website www.Cabinetoffice.gov.uk; under public appointments titled public bodies (relevant year).
	This publication is available to the public.

Passports

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to change the information gathered for a passport application.

John Reid: There are no changes currently planned in the information to be provided by applicants that will, subsequently, be held on records of the Identity and Passport Service. Later this year, the IPS will gather limited additional information on first time applicants to form the basis of interviews to confirm identity and to protect applicants against identity theft. This additional information will not be held on IPS records after the passport is issued.

Passports

Nicholas Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information was required for the processing of a passport application in May 1997; what information is required now; and when each change to the information required was introduced.

John Reid: The standard application form in May 1997 sought the following information:
	Type of passport applied for;
	Applicant's name, address, place and date of birth, sex, and telephone numbers;
	Details of previous passports (where appropriate);
	Applicant's parents' names, places and dates of birth, nationality and details of any British passports held (where appropriate);
	Naturalisation details (where appropriate);
	Parents' consent (where appropriate);
	Countersignatory's details (where appropriate).
	The changes to the information required since 1997 are as follows:
	 March 2002
	Requirement to provide countersignatory's passport number introduced.
	 December 2003
	Requirement introduced for applications to replace lost or stolen passports to include an additional form with details of the loss and the report of the loss to the police.
	 January 2005
	The shortened form of birth certificates without parents details no longer accepted for people born after 31 December 1982.
	 November 2005
	All first applicants required to provide parents' details (previously applied only to those born after 31 December 1982).
	 November 2005
	New standards for passport photographs introduced in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.
	 January 2006
	Enhanced identity checks against public and private sector databases introduced, but this did not change the information required from applicants.
	The Identity and Passport Service may ask applicants to provide additional information in some cases where identity or nationality cannot be confirmed from the information given on the form.

Police

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fully trained police officers were employed specifically in child protection work in each police force in England and Wales in each of the last four years.

Tony McNulty: holding answer 30 January 2007
	The number of police officers employed specifically in child protection work is not collected centrally and is an operational matter for involved police forces and their child protection partners.

Police

Christopher Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the strength was of each police force in each of the last 10 years.

Tony McNulty: Over the last 10 years the overall police strength within England and Wales has increased by approximately 10.4 per cent. The available data are given in the table.
	
		
			  Police officer strength( 1)  (FTE)( 2)  by police force as at 31 March 1997 to 31 March 2006 
			   As at 31 March each year: 
			  Police force  1997( 3)  1998  1999  2000  2001( 4)  2002  2003  2004  2005  2006 
			 Avon and Somerset 2,989 2,976 2,999 2,934 2,994 3,096 3,149 3,401 3,384 3,389 
			 Bedfordshire 1,094 1,079 1,041 1,028 1,036 1,069 1,106 1,181 1,215 1,198 
			 Cambridgeshire 1,302 1,291 1,274 1,237 1,296 1,362 1,384 1,400 1,402 1,430 
			 Cheshire 2,046 2,042 2,071 2,011 2,002 2,059 2,119 2,177 2,186 2,174 
			 Cleveland 1,459 1,483 1,416 1,404 1,407 1,461 1,582 1,687 1,676 1,677 
			 Cumbria 1,144 1,164 1,126 1,084 1,048 1,100 1,140 1,222 1,232 1,230 
			 Derbyshire 1,791 1,772 1,759 1,777 1,823 1,848 2,003 2,070 2,070 2,046 
			 Devon and Cornwall 2,865 2,962 2,887 2,841 2,934 3,053 3,202 3,283 3,369 3,493 
			 Dorset 1,284 1,310 1,279 1,306 1,354 1,381 1,416 1,433 1,450 1,485 
			 Durham 1,461 1,515 1,568 1,558 1,595 1,614 1,651 1,685 1,718 1,699 
			 Essex 2,961 2,928 2,891 2,806 2,897 2,946 2,989 3,098 3,190 3,279 
			 Gloucestershire 1,133 1,104 1,104 1,114 1,173 1,183 1,227 1,284 1,291 1,289 
			 Greater Manchester 6,922 6,949 6,810 6,795 6,909 7,217 7,343 8,042 8,041 7,959 
			 Hampshire 3,452 3,490 3,473 3,419 3,438 3,480 3,668 3,706 3,725 3,707 
			 Hertfordshire 1,759 1,740 1,724 1,767 1,922 1,825 1,957 2,086 2,104 2,126 
			 Humberside 2,045 2,021 1,974 1,932 1,917 2,058 2,105 2,213 2,230 2,224 
			 Kent 3,260 3,251 3,201 3,204 3,319 3,355 3,487 3,576 3,586 3,599 
			 Lancashire 3,248 3,257 3,245 3,179 3,255 3,304 3,339 3,550 3,551 3,583 
			 Leicestershire 1,949 1,983 1,993 1,993 2,032 2,100 2,114 2,277 2,283 2,250 
			 Lincolnshire 1,196 1,191 1,140 1,115 1,202 1,198 1,221 1,228 1,221 1,213 
			 London, City of 859 825 778 732 703 764 808 853 876 869 
			 Merseyside 4,230 4,216 4,211 4,085 4,081 4,125 4,099 4,122 4,317 4,269 
			 Metropolitan Police 26,677 26,094 26.073 25,485 24,878 26,223 27,984 29,735 30,710 30,536 
			 Norfolk 1,432 1,430 1,381 1,381 1,420 1,468 1,499 1,510 1,544 1,557 
			 Northamptonshire 1,177 1,169 1,137 1,117 1,157 1,214 1,210 1,239 1,267 1,317 
			 Northumbria 3,677 3,769 3,840 3,788 3,857 3,929 3,943 4,040 4,048 3,983 
			 North Yorkshire 1,338 1,367 1,337 1,283 1,305 1,417 1,444 1,529 1,543 1,636 
			 Nottinghamshire 2,323 2,323 2,225 2,204 2,275 2,330 2,411 2,484 2,502 2,477 
			 South Yorkshire 3,159 3,182 3,168 3,163 3,197 3,199 3,183 3,279 3,265 3,255 
			 Staffordshire 2,211 2,292 2,238 2,170 2,129 2,133 2,202 2,266 2,280 2,272 
			 Suffolk 1,174 1,186 1,190 1,145 1,133 1,203 1,253 1,304 1,313 1,300 
			 Surrey 1,620 1,608 1,662 1,785 2,066 1,992 1,906 1,913 1,915 1,922 
			 Sussex 3,085 2,996 2,847 2,822 2,855 2,893 2,989 3,039 3,044 3,092 
			 Thames Valley 3,695 3,776 3,748 3,740 3,703 3,762 3,833 4,034 4,114 4,229 
			 Warwickshire 926 924 908 900 926 969 997 1,008 1,011 1,032 
			 West Mercia 2,040 2,010 2,025 1,887 1,951 2,018 2,256 2,355 2,367 2,351 
			 West Midlands 7,113 7,156 7,321 7,194 7,423 7,681 7,751 7,887 8,056 8,097 
			 West Yorkshire 5,209 5,155 4,982 4,822 4,815 4,889 5,029 5,275 5,631 5,644 
			 Wiltshire 1,154 1,156 1,151 1,118 1,120 1,157 1,158 1,217 1,222 1,219 
			 Dyfed-Powys 1,005 1,002 1,026 1,040 1,055 1,132 1,149 1,160 1,174 1,182 
			 Gwent 1,243 1,233 1,247 1,264 1,274 1,333 1,341 1,372 1,438 1,467 
			 North Wales 1,369 1,396 1,391 1,403 1,444 1,506 1,539 1,603 1,652 1,617 
			 South Wales 2,976 2,986 2,981 2,926 3,154 3,222 3,239 3,279 3,281 3,263 
			 Total England and Wales 125,051 124,756 123,841 121,956 123,476 127,267 131,426 137,105 139,495 139,633 
			 (1) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. (2) Full-time equivalent excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. (3) Boundary changes on 1 April 1996 transferred resources for the policing of the Rhmney Valley from South Wales police to Gwent police. (4 )Boundary changes on 1 April 2000 transferred some resources from the Metropolitan police to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey police forces.

Recruitment Agencies

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to ensure recruitment agencies abide by immigration laws in recruiting overseas staff.

Liam Byrne: Under Section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, where an agency employs migrants and provides their services to a user, then it is the responsibility of the agency to check and record specified documents belonging to those employees. Where an employment agency is simply recruiting people to be employed by a client, then it is the client's responsibility to carry out those checks.
	IND investigates allegations of illegal working nationwide by adopting an intelligence-led approach and adapting resources, where appropriate, to carry out specific operations that will yield the greatest results. Compliance with our immigration laws will continue to be enforced in order to remove the most potentially harmful people first.
	Work permits are only issued to employers that have a clear responsibility for determining the duties and functions of the post. Consequently, work permits are not issued to agencies where they are employing a person solely to provide that person's services to another employer. This restriction also applies when the employment would be supplementary to a job for which a work permit has been issued.
	The Work Permits (UK) Compliance Team undertake checks on employers, who may have used agencies to find their staff, to ensure that they are complying with the work permit arrangements. This includes checking that the information about the employer and job is accurate and that the offer of employment is genuine.
	Checks can be carried out at any time during the application process or during the validity of the work permit. If minor discrepancies are found, employers are required to make appropriate adjustments in order to comply with work permit rules. However, where there is non-compliance and information cannot be verified, the compliance team will revoke the work permit permission and consequently curtail the leave that the migrant has to remain in the UK.

Residential Rehabilitation: Drug Addicts

Humfrey Malins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will commission research into the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation for drug addicts.

Vernon Coaker: A Home Office-commissioned research study, which will examine the effectiveness of residential rehabilitation as part of a wider study on the outcomes of drug treatment, is already under way. The study is being conducted by Manchester University and the National Centre for Social Research.
	The Drug Treatment Outcomes Research Study (DTORS) is a large-scale national study of drug users presenting for drug treatment, including residential rehabilitation, which aims to explore how treatment impacts on drug and alcohol use, offending behaviour, mental and physical health, and wider social outcomes such as education and employment. The study will also gather data about respondents' previous experience of drug treatment, including residential rehabilitation, in addition to tracking current treatment provision and how this relates to their outcomes.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Casinos

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many applications for  (a) new casinos and  (b) alterations to existing casinos have been submitted under the Gambling Act 1968 between 2004-05 and the latest date for which figures are available.

Richard Caborn: The Gambling Commission considers applications for certificates of consent for new casinos, or for significant alterations to, or relocations of, existing casinos. Once a certificate of consent is issued, operators can then apply to the licensing magistrates for a casino licence. There is no guarantee that the grant of a certificate of consent will result in a casino licence being granted.
	The following table sets out the number of applications for certificates of consent that the Gambling Commission (and its predecessor body the Gaming Board for Great Britain) has received during the period requested.
	
		
			  Financial year  Certificate of consent applications for new casinos  Certificate of consent applications for alterations or relocation 
			 2004-05 23 6 
			 2005-06 56 9 
			 2006-07 (to date) 40 19

Casinos

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what criteria she plans to use to assess the casino pilot schemes; who will assess the pilot schemes; whether the assessment of the pilot schemes will be conducted by a body independent of government; and when the assessment is expected to  (a) start and  (b) end.

Richard Caborn: We have commissioned a group led by Lancaster university to advise on the methodology for the assessment of the social and economic impact of the new casinos. The baseline study will commence later this year, once Parliament has approved the areas where the new casinos will be located, and in good time before the opening of the first new casino. The assessment will not be completed until at least three years after the award of the first licence. The body that will undertake the assessment has yet to be appointed.

Casinos

Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions her Department has had with casino operators following the Casino Advisory Panel report of 30 January; and whether her Department has made an assessment of which casino operators will take part in the casino pilot schemes.

Richard Caborn: None. Section 175(4) of the Gambling Act 2005 requires the Secretary of State to specify by order which licensing authorities should be permitted to issue the one regional, eight large and eight small casino premises licences permitted by the Act. It will be for those licensing authorities to run fair and open competitions for the premises licences.

Casinos

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the percentage of electricity used by the new super casino which will be generated from  (a) renewable sources and  (b) on-site micro-regeneration facilities.

Richard Caborn: No such estimate has been made.

Cultural Heritage: Grants

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much public money was paid to  (a) English Heritage,  (b) the Arts Council and  (c) the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in each year since 1997, broken down into grant-in-aid and lottery funding.

David Lammy: Details of DCMS grant in aid and direct lottery funding are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  £000 
			   English Heritage grant in aid( 1)  Arts Council England lottery income( 2)  Arts Council England grant in aid( 1)  Museums, Libraries and Archives Council( 2) 
			 1997-98 105,183 298,000 187,600 9,521 
			 1998-99 102,404 235,000 190,950 9,620 
			 1999-2000 112,609 201,000 229,226 16,614 
			 2000-01 119,000 202,000 238,179 16,208 
			 2001-02 110,401 208,000 252,455 20,675 
			 2002-03 116,387 178,000 290,405 21,868 
			 2003-04 119,442 161,000 325,955 25,816 
			 2004-05 127,901 169,000 369,859 34,458 
			 2005-06 129,136 172,000 409,178 44,174 
			 (1) All figures obtained from Annual Appropriation Accounts and Resource Accounts.  (2) Figures rounded to the nearest £ million. 
		
	
	The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council was established on 30 November 1999 to replace the Museums and Galleries Commission and the Libraries and Information Commission. Shortly after its establishment it was renamed Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries before reverting to its original title in January 2004. The table gives figures for these organisations under the name Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Culture: Regeneration

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment has been made of the role of cultural activities in urban regeneration.

David Lammy: I refer my hon. Friend to the answers I gave him on 4 July 2006,  Official Report, column 919W and 7 November 2006,  Official Report, column 1104W.

Digital Dividend

Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether her Department has consulted industry representatives on the time period between publication of the final proposals for the Digital Dividend Review and its implementation.

Shaun Woodward: The Department has not consulted with industry representatives on proposals for the Digital Dividend Review.
	Ofcom published the consultation document for this project on 19 December 2006. The consultation ends on 20 March 2007.

Digital Television

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of households which will qualify for assistance in switching over to digital television in London, broken down by borough.

Shaun Woodward: The information requested is as follows.
	
		
			  Constituency  Households (defined as eligible benefit units) 
			 Barking 9,000 
			 Battersea 6,000 
			 Beckenham 10,000 
			 Bethnal Green and Bow 10,000 
			 Bexleyheath and Crayford 9,000 
			 Brent East 7,000 
			 Brent North 8,000 
			 Brent South 7,000 
			 Brentford and Isleworth 10,000 
			 Bromley and Chislehurst 10,000 
			 Camberwell and Peckham 8,000 
			 Carshalton and Wellington 9,000 
			 Chingford and Woodford Green 9,000 
			 Chipping Barnet 10,000 
			 Cities of London and Westminster 8,000 
			 Croydon Central 11,000 
			 Croydon North 10,000 
			 Croydon South 11,000 
			 Dagenham 11,000 
			 Dulwich and West Norwood 9,000 
			 Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush 10,000 
			 Ealing North 9,000 
			 Ealing Southall 11,000 
			 East Ham 10,000 
			 Edmonton 9,000 
			 Eltham 9,000 
			 Enfield North 9,000 
			 Enfield Southgate 10,000 
			 Erith and Thamesmead 9,000 
			 Feltham and Heston 10,000 
			 Finchley and Golders Green 11,000 
			 Greenwich and Woolwich 10,000 
			 Hackney North and Stoke Newington 8,000 
			 Hackney South and Shoreditch 9,000 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 10,000 
			 Hampstead and Highgate 10,000 
			 Harrow East 12,000 
			 Harrow West 9,000 
			 Hayes and Harlington 8,000 
			 Hendon 10,000 
			 Holborn and St Pancras 9,000 
			 Hornchurch 9,000 
			 Hornsey and Wood Green 10,000 
			 Ilford North 10,000 
			 Ilford South 10,000 
			 Islington North 9,000 
			 Islington South and Finsbury 9,000 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 8,000 
			 Kingston and Surbiton 9,000 
			 Lewisham and Deptford 6,000 
			 Lewisham East 8,000 
			 Lewisham West 8,000 
			 Leyton and Wanstead 7,000 
			 Mitcham and Morden 8,000 
			 North Southwark and Bermondsey 10,000 
			 Old Bexley and Sidcup 10,000 
			 Orpington 11,000 
			 Poplar and Canning Town 11,000 
			 Putney 8,000 
			 Regent's Park and Kensington North 13,000 
			 Richmond Park 10,000 
			 Romford 9,000 
			 Ruislip-Northwood 8,000 
			 Streatham 8,000 
			 Sutton and Cheam 10,000 
			 Tooting 8,000 
			 Tottenham 10,000 
			 Twickenham 8,000 
			 Upminster 10,000 
			 Uxbridge 8,000 
			 Vauxhall 9,000 
			 Walthamstow 9,000 
			 West Ham 8,000 
			 Wimbledon 8,000 
			 Greater London 680,000 
			  Notes: 1. Rounded to the nearest thousand. 2. Eligibility for help from the Digital Switchover Help Scheme will be by benefit unit rather than the whole household definition used by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Office to forecast future household growth. 3. The definition of a benefit unit is a couple and any dependent children. It excludes adults deemed to be non-dependents who, if eligible, will be able to claim assistance from the Help Scheme in their own right.

English Heritage

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress has been made on the appointment of a new chairperson of English Heritage; and when she expects the process to be completed.

Tessa Jowell: We are about to launch a further open competition to identify a new chair of English Heritage. I expect the process to be completed by the summer.

Executive Agencies

Nick Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much was spent by each of her Department's executive agencies in each of the Government Office regions in the most recent year for which figures are available.

David Lammy: The Royal Parks Agency (RPA) is the only Executive Agency within this Department. In the financial year 2005-06 a gross total of £39 million was spent in the London region. Visitor surveys however show that all regions of the UK received the benefit of the spend. Further information on visitor numbers and RPA spend can be found using the following internet link:
	http://www.royalparks.org.uk/about/publications/index.cfm

Film: West Midlands

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps her Department has taken to promote the West Midlands as a venue for the UK film industry.

Shaun Woodward: The UK Film Council, the Government's strategic organisation for film, promotes the UK as a filming destination by providing information to international filmmakers who have projects for the UK about the range and diversity of locations in the UK.
	The UK Film Council has created nine Regional Screen Agencies for England, each of which promotes their individual region as a film location both nationally and internationally. Screen West Midlands (SWM) is the regional screen agency for the West Midlands.
	In 2005-06, Screen West Midlands invested £2,209,573 in the film and media industry in the region. Working in close co-operation with FILM Birmingham—run by Birmingham city council—Screen West Midlands offers a complete service for filming needs in the region.

Gaming Clubs: Torbay

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the number of jobs to be created as a result of the casino licence issued for Torbay; and what proportion of those jobs will be  (a) full-time,  (b) part-time,  (c) short-term and  (d) seasonal.

Richard Caborn: The Casino Advisory Panel recommended that Torbay council be allowed to issue one of the eight small casino licences permitted by the Gambling Act 2005. The council's proposal to the panel estimated that a new casino would result directly in between 200 and 400 full-time equivalent jobs. No seasonal figures were submitted with the proposal, though it was anticipated that a new casino would support the objective of increasing year round employment in Torbay.

Licensing Fees

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what response she has made to the recommendations of the Elton Review of Licensing Fees; and when she plans to implement them.

Shaun Woodward: holding answer 2 February 2007
	The final report of the Independent Licensing Fees Review Panel was placed in the Library of the House on 25 January. We are currently assessing the implications of all the Panel's detailed conclusions and recommendations and will provide a response shortly. Before reaching a final decision about implementing any changes to the fees regime and related issues, we will undertake a full public consultation so that licence payers, local authorities and the public can help to inform future policy.

London Olympics

George Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether any National Lottery funds previously earmarked for the voluntary sector are planned to be diverted to supporting the funding of the London Olympics 2012; what representations  (a) she and  (b) her Department has received on this matter from representatives of the voluntary sector; and if she will make a statement.

Tessa Jowell: No decision has yet been made about any additional contribution to the costs of the 2012 Olympic Games. Exactly how we meet further funding liabilities are currently subject to discussions within Government.
	My Department has received a range of correspondence from the voluntary sector on this issue and we are giving their comments careful consideration.

London Olympics

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she has taken to ensure that lottery funding for the 2012 London Olympic games will not reduce resources available for community projects in other areas of the UK.

Tessa Jowell: It has been the case from the start that lottery proceeds would contribute a significant proportion of the public funding package for the 2012 London Olympics. Some £750 million will be raised via new lottery products, whose sales have been up to expectations since the first were launched almost 18 months ago. The Government have always been clear that non-Olympic lottery proceeds would also have to contribute, but that we would strive to minimise, in relation to all parts of the UK, the impact on non-Olympic good causes.

London Olympics

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she first became aware that the inclusion of VAT would affect the Olympic budget.

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she was first informed that the inclusion of VAT would affect the Olympic budget; by whom she was so informed; and on what date this occurred.

Tessa Jowell: The basis on which VAT was dealt with in the Candidature File prepared in 2004, and the action I took to initiate a review of costs and funding following the success of the bid in autumn 2005, was set out in my response to the hon. Member for Faversham and Mid-Kent (Hugh Robertson) on 6 November 2006,  Official Report, column 565W and in my evidence to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on 21 November 2006. This is summarised in paragraphs 48 to 50 of the Committee's report published on 24 January.
	The Government are considering tax costs as part of their wider consideration of the overall Olympic budget and I will let the House have further information in due course.

London Olympics

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library a copy of the memorandum of understanding for Olympic overspending agreed between her Department, the Mayor of London and other stakeholders.

Tessa Jowell: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 29 January 2007,  Official Report, column 103W.

London Olympics

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what progress has been made in establishing the London Olympic Institute; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what discussions her Department has had with prospective key tenants for the London Olympic Institute.

Richard Caborn: The British Olympic Association (BOA) is taking the lead in developing proposals for a viable London Olympic Institute (LOI). To date the BOA has held discussions with a wide range of sporting and Government organisations including my Department, the Olympic sports' governing bodies, the British Paralympic Association, the Greater London Authority and the NHS.

London Olympics

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to her answer of 23 January 2007,  Official Report, columns 1621-22W, on the Olympic Games, if she will break down the £400 million funding for the delivery partner into  (a) fees for CLM,  (b) accommodation,  (c) site mobilisation,  (d) Olympic Delivery Authority staff costs and  (e) other costs.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 26 January 2007
	As the hon. Member will be aware I gave an undertaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on 21 November 2006 that I would report to them on a time scale that matches the work on reviewing costs that we have under way. He will also be aware that the Select Committee's report published on 24 January 2007 (HC 69-1) is also seeking this information. For these reasons I will address this question in my formal response to the Select Committee in due course.

London Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will place in the Library a copy of the games reports prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers on the costs of the 2012 Olympics in 2004.

Kim Howells: I am arranging for copies of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report entitled "Olympics and Lower Lea Valley Costing Validation Review, July 2004", to be placed in the Libraries of the House. Some detailed figures in the report have been redacted as their disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of the Department and/or other third parties.

London Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what advice PricewaterhouseCoopers provided on the costs of security and policing in their Olympics Cost Review in 2004.

Tessa Jowell: PricewaterhouseCoopers suggested a figure of £160 million (equivalent to £190 million at outturn prices), excluding the costs of security within the venues. However, they advised that there was considerable uncertainty about the security costs. Their advice was received before the terrorist attacks in London on 7 July 2005.

London Olympics

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether a steering group was set up to consider the advice provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers on Olympic costs in 2004.

Tessa Jowell: Yes. The Department set up and chaired the "Budget and Revenues Sub-Group". Its membership included London 2012, the British Olympic Association, HM Treasury, the Government office for London, the Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency.

London Olympics

Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate she has made of the security costs for the Olympics site in  (a) 2007,  (b) 2008 and  (c) 2009.

Tessa Jowell: holding answer 31 January 2007
	The budget for the Olympic Delivery Authority for the next financial year will be finalised in March. The overall budget, which will include site security, is under discussion in Government and with other stakeholders, and will be published in due course.
	The Home Office intends to provide the Metropolitan Police Service and other forces for areas where the games are to be held with some additional funding of up to £4.6 million in 2007-08 for Olympic security planning.

Television Licences

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she has made an assessment of the  (a) merits of and  (b) effect on public finances of TV Licence payments being made via PayPoint.

Shaun Woodward: No. Last year's decision to award the contract for over-the-counter TV licence sales to PayPoint was a commercial matter for the BBC as television licensing authority. The BBC has indicated that it expects to save in excess of £100 million over the term of the contract.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Census

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the completeness of archived census records.

Vera Baird: Until recently, no empirical research had been carried out to establish the precise extent of any missing sections from census records held at The National Archives.
	A project is currently under way to analyse the 1861 census returns in detail and to establish the exact percentage of the returns that are missing.

Compensation

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs who the members of the Ministerial Steering Group on Compensation Culture are.

Vera Baird: The members of the Ministerial Steering Group on Compensation Culture are myself (Chair); the Minister of State for Health, the Lord Hunt of Kings Heath; the Economic Secretary to the Treasury; the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Doncaster, North (Edward Miliband); the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon (Angela E. Smith); the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy); the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills, the Lord Adonis; the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, my hon. Friend the Member for Poplar and Canning Town (Jim Fitzpatrick); and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, the Lord McKenzie of Luton.

Compensation

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what action her Department is taking  (a) to improve the system for those with a valid claim for compensation and  (b) to find ways to discourage and resist fraudulent claims.

Vera Baird: The Government have been considering ways to improve the claims process for personal injury claims and intend to publish a consultation paper in the near future.
	The Department is introducing the regulation of claims management services under the Compensation Act. This will tackle certain practices carried out by some previously unregulated claims farmers, such as encouraging and bringing bad claims. We are also working with stakeholders to encourage organisations to resist bad claims.

Compensation

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment her Department has undertaken of other countries' personal injury compensation systems; what conclusions have been drawn; and if she will make a statement.

Vera Baird: The Department does not routinely collect information on other countries' personal injury compensation systems. However, information is sought as appropriate to assist in policy development.
	For example, information was sought from other European countries prior to consultation in 2002 on proposals to allow the courts to order that personal injury damages be paid in the form of periodical payments (which subsequently formed part of the Courts Act 2003). In addition, research was commissioned on the funding of personal injury litigation which included a survey of approaches in several European jurisdictions. This was published in February 2006.

Court of Appeal

John Hemming: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals were filed with the Court of Appeal in relation to family law cases where the local authority was a party to the case in each year since 1990; and how many of the appellants were  (a) the local authority,  (b) the guardian,  (c) the mother,  (d) the father and  (e) another party in each year.

Vera Baird: The number of family law cases filed annually since 2000 is set out in the following table. Information before 2000 is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	To break this information down into the requested format would also incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Appeals filed 
			 2000 95 
			 2001 91 
			 2002 105 
			 2003 86 
			 2004 91 
			 2005 106 
			 2006 101

Courts: Nottingham

Graham Allen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment she has made of the reasons for the delay in establishing courts in the community in Nottingham; and what steps she is taking to end this delay.

Vera Baird: Following public consultation, Community Justice court sittings dealing with cases from the Aspley and St. Ann's areas of Nottingham will commence in the city's magistrates court in May. Court sittings for one of these areas will then be held within a community building as soon as suitable accommodation can be found.
	Work is ongoing in the community to find the right building where the court use is compatible with any other current community uses, so that the community will welcome the court.
	As the Government said in the paper, "Delivering Simple, Summary, Speedy Justice", published in July 2006, they also want to pilot alternative court provision within the community and the Nottingham Community Justice Initiative will engage with the local community and work in partnership with the range of criminal justice agencies, support services and community groups to solve the problems caused by offending in the local area. It is therefore right that we proceed with what is principally an approach, rather than a building, until both can be combined.

Courts: Nottingham

Graham Allen: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what criteria her Department has set for determining whether premises are acceptable to serve as community courts; and what assessment she has made of the availability of suitable premises in Nottingham.

Vera Baird: Representatives of the Nottinghamshire Local Criminal Justice Board have visited a number of buildings put forward by the Nottingham city council to assess their suitability for use as a criminal court. That assessment was intended to enable the board to decide whether the building could, with or without modification, meet minimum requirements. These include minimum health and safety standards to ensure the safety and security of court users, judiciary and other visitors to the building; compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act; and separate rooms to enable solicitors to take instructions from their clients.
	In addition to this, each of these buildings is used by many other organisations including crèches and youth groups and they are used as meeting places for older people. The board therefore recognises that even after identifying a building which has some potential for use as a court, the community users must be engaged in discussion before any final decision is made. If this involves alteration of the building, such alterations must be carried out in a way which does not adversely affect the other uses of these amenities.
	Accordingly, the board is making careful assessments of all the premises identified for consideration and being sensitive to the needs of existing users. It is committed to finding a suitable community building for these sittings as soon as possible and will work with the city council to achieve this. In the meantime, these cases will commence being heard at the magistrates court in May.

Electoral Register

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what steps she is taking to ensure that people living in houses of multiple occupation receive information on being included on the electoral register.

Bridget Prentice: Section 9 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 placed a new duty on Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to take all necessary steps to maintain the electoral register, which includes:
	(a) sending more than once to any address the form to be used for the canvass;
	(b) making on one or more occasions house to house inquiries;
	(c) making contact by other such means as the registration officers think appropriate with persons who do not have an entry in the register;
	(d) inspecting any records held by any person which the registration officer is permitted to inspect; and
	(e) the registration officer providing training to persons under his direction or control in connection with carrying out of the duty.
	It is for the EROs to decide on the best steps to use in conjunction with their local knowledge, when making contact with persons in houses of multiple occupation.

Freedom of Information: Fees and charges

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the legal basis is for applying a standard research fee to Freedom of Information applications for census records.

Vera Baird: The National Archives' research fees are prescribed by the Lord Chancellor in concurrence with the Treasury and contained in a statutory instrument. This is in accordance with section 2(5) of the Public Record Act 1958 and with section 9(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which permits organisations to use alternative statutory fees-setting regimes.
	The National Archives' standard research fee of £15 per quarter hour was last approved by Parliament in March 2005 and the search fee for Freedom of Information applications for information from a 1911 census return is in line with this. Census material from 1841 to 1901 can be accessed online.

Legal Aid: MMR

John Baron: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Legal Services Commission has sent to the Medical Research Council research paid for by legal aid in connection with the MMR/MR vaccines litigation.

Vera Baird: The Legal Services Commission has not sent the research in the MMR/MR vaccines litigation to the Medical Research Council.

Public Information

Mark Todd: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs if she will make a statement on her Department's response to the Office of Fair Trading's report, 'The commercial use of public information'.

Hilary Armstrong: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by the Minister for Trade, my right hon. Friend the Member for Makerfield (Mr. McCartney), on 8 January 2007,  Official Report, column 315W.

Public Records Act

Mike Hancock: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans she has for the renewal of the Public Records Act 1958, Instrument of Extended Retention No. 38 of July 1996 as it refers to RG 15 and RG 16.

Vera Baird: Instrument No. 38, Retention of Public Records dated 23 July 1996, retained RG15 and RG16 to 31 December 2006. Instrument No. 81, Retention of Public Records, dated 12 January 2006, now retains RG15 and RG16 for a further 10 years.

HEALTH

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what level of alcohol dependence was identified in each region of England in the alcohol needs assessment report; and what estimate she has made of the number of people who are alcohol-dependent in each region.

Caroline Flint: The alcohol needs assessment research project (ANARP) report provided the following information. This is the best available estimate of alcohol-dependent people by region.
	
		
			  Epidemiological profile of alcohol use disorders in England (psychiatric morbidity survey): dependence (audit 16-40) 
			  Region  Percentage of adult population 
			 North East 5.2 
			 North West 3.4 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 5.2 
			 East Midlands 1.6 
			 West Midlands 3.8 
			 East of England 2.8 
			 London 4.5 
			 South East 3.6 
			 South West 3.1 
			 All 3.6 
		
	
	
		
			  Estimate of the actual number of dependent drinkers per region 
			  Region  Estimated numbers 
			 North East 83,356 
			 North West 145,054 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 163,889 
			 East Midlands 42,656 
			 West Midlands 126,658 
			 East of England 95,808 
			 London 217,429 
			 South East 183,611 
			 South West 95,257 
			 Total for England 1,132,074

Data Sets

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether general practitioners and hospital computer systems share a common address base for their patients.

Caroline Flint: National health service patient address and other demographic information has historically been compiled in individual local records held by general practitioners and hospitals. Information, including changes of address, is sometimes shared in the course of referrals, but data held by one NHS body may not always reflect changes notified to another.
	Over time, a single authoritative source of patient demographic data, known as the personal demographics service (PDS), will be used by all general practitioners and hospital computer systems in England. Access to the PDS will reduce clinical risks arising from a failure to match patients with their clinical record, and help minimise cases of correspondence and documents being misdirected. Early evidence from one trust has shown a sixfold reduction in misdirected mail addressed using PDS-held data.
	The PDS, which first went live in June 2004, already contains information for all the patients within England, and is currently accessible across the NHS, with over 310,000 users, and receives over 26 million inquiries per month. The volumes are growing over time, with increasing patient benefits and efficiency improvements.
	There will be no physical or electronic links between the PDS's other non-NHS databases, and other Government departments and public agencies will not be able to access the data it contains.

Dental Services: Leeds

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what funding she plans for the provision of NHS dental care in Leeds in each of the next three years;
	(2)  what plans she has to improve access to NHS dentistry in Leeds;
	(3)  how many people are registered with an NHS dentist in  (a) the city of Leeds and  (b) West Yorkshire.

Rosie Winterton: holding answer 1 February 2007
	The 2007-08 primary care dental care allocations for primary care trusts (PCTs), including Leeds PCT, will be confirmed shortly. Allocations for subsequent years will be decided later in the light of the results of the 2007 comprehensive spending review.
	Registration data no longer form part of the new dental contract information. However, the new measure is patients seen within the last 24 months. The information relating to the NHS Yorkshire and the Humber strategic health authority together with the former PCTs in the Leeds area can be found in the following table:
	
		
			  Patients seen in the two years ending 30 September 2006 in the specified strategic health authorities (SHA) and PCTs 
			   Number 
			 Yorkshire and The Humber SHA 2,968,212 
			   
			  Of which:  
			 East Leeds PCT 92,204 
			 Leeds North East PCT 68,159 
			 Leeds North West PCT 90,169 
			 Leeds West PCT 70,967 
			 South Leeds PCT 90,481 
			  Note: Information includes orthodontic activity.  Sources: 1. The Information Centre for health and social care. 2. NHS Business Services Authority. 
		
	
	Over the past year the PCT has commissioned additional dental services to fully replace services provided by the small proportion of dentists who chose not to take up new dental contracts on 1 April 2006. In addition, the PCT is also looking at plans to continue to improve access in areas of greatest oral health need and areas where general access is a problem such as North West Leeds. To help facilitate this the PCT has identified almost £1 million of capital funding.

Drug Analysis

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 20 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1707W, on drug analysis, when the current technical and data issues with Sentinel and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency electronic reporting of adverse drug reactions will be resolved;
	(2)  when the publication of up-to-date drug analysis prints on the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency website will be resumed;
	(3)  when the major upgrade of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency's drug safety monitoring will be completed.

Caroline Flint: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency Medicines (MHRA) introduced the new drug safety monitoring module of the Sentinel database in May 2006. The technical and data issues relating to the production of drug analysis prints are being resolved within a planned programme during 2007. The MHRA is committed to resolving these issues as soon as possible.
	The MHRA continues to provide anonymised aggregated adverse drug reaction data on request in response to specific inquiries from health professionals, the public and pharmaceutical companies.

Foreign National Doctors

Nigel Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of employing foreign national doctors in the NHS on short-term, temporary contracts in each of the last two years.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally.

Gershon Review

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will list the other NHS bodies to which staff have been transferred as part of the Gershon Review, referred to in 7.75 of her Department's 2006 annual report; and what the net change in staff numbers was as a result.

Ivan Lewis: The main national health service bodies to which Department staff have been transferred as part of the Department change programme are:
	Commission for Social Care Inspection;
	NHS Information Centre;
	Health Protection Agency;
	Modernisation Agency (now NHS Institute);
	NHS Employers;
	Skills for Health; and
	Strategic health authorities
	The total number of actual transfers recorded up to December 2005—the date for which figures in the annual report are stated—was 617. These transfers have been excluded from our calculation of headcount savings. The net change at December 2005 was 633 as stated in the report in paragraph 7.76.

GP Records

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health who the legal data controller is for electronic and paper records held in GP surgeries.

Caroline Flint: The term data controller is defined in the Data Protection Act 1998, and can relate to either individuals or organisations. Each general practitioner (GP) practice, or single-handed GP, is a data controller for health records containing personal data where the practice or GP determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, the personal data are, or will be, processed. This is the case whether the records are held electronically or on paper, and whether the records are held within the GP surgery or hosted elsewhere. The legal responsibilities of a data controller relate to the act of processing personal data, not the physical location of that data.
	Where personal data for which the practice or GP is a data controller are processed by individuals working for or on behalf of a different data controller, for example another national health service body, both the practice and the other data controller may be jointly responsible as data controllers in common for those records.

Gulf War Syndrome

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated for Gulf War syndrome in each of the last 10 years.

Ivan Lewis: Information on the number of people treated for Gulf War syndrome is not collected.

Health and Safety

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many incidents were reported to her Department's health and safety incident centre in 2005-06.

Ivan Lewis: The Department had 43 incidents reported to its health and safety incident centre in 2005-06.

Health Visitors

Francis Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the  (a) value for money provided by and  (b) effectiveness of (i) health visitors and (ii) community nurses;
	(2)  which primary care trusts have made arrangements for community service nursing in their area to be provided by a  (a) private company and  (b) social enterprise.

Rosie Winterton: No assessment has been carried out centrally of the value for money or effectiveness of health visitors or community nurses. It is the business of national health service trusts to make these assessments, to inform themselves that they are using their resources effectively to meet local needs and priorities.
	We are aware that Central Surrey Health, a social enterprise, has been contracted by Surrey Primary Care Trust to provide community nursing services.

Healthcare-related Infections

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of  (a) MRSA and  (b) Clostridium difficile were reported in each quarter of each of the last five years, broken down by NHS trust; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The requested information is not available but information for six and 12-month periods for the last five years for methcillin-resistant  Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is available on the Health Protection Agency (HPA) website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hai/mandatory_report_2006.htm
	Since April 2001, all acute national health service trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of MRSA bloodstream infections. Data for each trust for each six-month and for each 12 month period from April 2001 to March 2006 have been published.
	Mandatory surveillance for  Clostridium difficile ( C. difficile) associated infection was introduced in January 2004. All acute NHS trusts in England are obliged to report all cases of  C. difficile associated infection in patients 65 years and over. Data for each trust for each of the two calendar years 2004 and 2005 are available on the HPA website at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/hai/mandatory_report_2006.htm
	Voluntary reporting of  C. difficile positive stool samples was introduced in 1990, and data are available at:
	www.hpa.org.uk/infections/topics_az/clostridium_difficile/c_diff_voluntary_surveillance_data.htm
	Quarterly reporting for the mandatory surveillance of both of these infections will be introduced this year.

Hospital Beds: Edenbridge War Memorial Hospital

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that the closed beds at Edenbridge War Memorial Hospital are reopened; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: This is a matter for West Kent Primary Care Trust (PCT). NHS South East Coast has advised that the West Kent PCT is currently undertaking a review of all its community hospitals to ensure that they offer high clinical care as well as value for money. Until the review is completed, which is likely to be in the spring, all beds that are temporarily closed will remain closed. If there are any proposed changes to services in this area there will be a formal consultation with the public.

Hospital Beds: Tonbridge Hospital

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to ensure that the closed beds at Tonbridge hospital are reopened; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: This is a matter for West Kent primary care trust (PCT). NHS South East Coast has advised that the West Kent PCT is currently undertaking a review of all its community hospitals to ensure that they offer high clinical care as well as value for money. Until the review is completed, which is likely to be in the spring, all beds that are temporarily closed will remain closed. If there are any proposed changes to services in this area there will be a formal consultation with the public.

Hospitals: Pembury

John Stanley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether there is a firm Government commitment to have a new private finance initiative-funded hospital at Pembury; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  by what date she expects the main construction contract for the planned new private financial initiative-funded hospital at Pembury to be let; and by what date she expects the hospital to be fully functioning.

Andy Burnham: The Department has reviewed the proposed private finance initiative scheme for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells National Health Service Trust on value for money and affordability grounds. An announcement is expected shortly.

Medicine Supplies

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many supplies of medicines were provided by homecare companies in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by drug; and what the cost was of each supply;
	(2)  what criteria are applied to decide whether a drug will be prescribed by a homecare company; and if she will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: Information on medicines supplied by homecare companies is not collected centrally.
	Individual health professionals employed by homecare companies are able to prescribe medicines according to the relevant regulatory frameworks.

Mental Health

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what measures she is taking to promote the employment within  (a) her Department and  (b) public sector bodies for whom she has responsibility of people with mental illnesses in line with the advice and codes of practice produced by the Disability Rights Commission.

Ivan Lewis: Under the disability equality duty introduced by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, the Department and the public sector bodies for which the Department is responsible are required to publish and implement disability equality schemes. These are plans setting out how we will carry out the disability equality duty, monitor, and report on progress. In particular, this includes our arrangements for gathering information on the effect of our policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of our disabled employees, including those with mental health conditions, and making use of that information.
	In consultation with users of mental health services, the Department's disability group, occupational health services, the trade union side and other interested parties, the Department has drawn up mental health guidance for staff, managers and human resource teams. The guidance, in its final draft stages, is due to be promulgated throughout the Department this spring.
	In terms of recruitment, the Department operates the guaranteed interview scheme, which guarantees disabled staff an interview if they meet the minimum criteria for a post.
	The public sector bodies sponsored by the Department that are subject to these requirements are responsible for publishing and implementing their own disability equality schemes.

NHS Recruitment

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies for  (a) doctors and  (b) nurses there are in the NHS.

Rosie Winterton: This information is not collected centrally. Information on vacancies that had lasted for more than three months and that trusts had been actively trying to fill is available since 1999 and can be found on The Information Centre's website at:
	http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/vacsurveyresmar2006

Pensions

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cash equivalent transfer value is of the public sector pensions of the 10 highest paid members of staff in her Department and its executive agencies; and if she will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis: The pay and pension details of the 10 highest paid staff in the Department and its executive agencies are disclosed in the remuneration report that forms part of the Department's resource accounts. This can be found on the Department of Health's website at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicy AndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4140951&chk=mEgrNU
	There are two staff members who do not appear on the remuneration report because at the time of publication, on 31 March 2006, they were not members of the senior management team. They therefore had not given permission for their pension information to be disclosed. Copies have been placed in the Library.

Prescriptions

Bob Laxton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many free prescriptions have been issued to individuals in Derby city since 2005.

Caroline Flint: The information requested is not available in the format required.
	Data for the number of prescription items dispensed by exemption category in the Derby City primary care trust (PCT) area are shown in the table.
	
		
			   Total number of exempt prescription items 
			 2005(1) 2,800,000 
			 2006(2) (January to October) 2,400,000 
			 (1) The 2005 data are the combined totals from Central Derby PCT and Greater Derby PCT.  (2) The data available for 2006 are for January to October only. The totals for January to September for Central Derby PCT and Greater Derby PCT have been combined with the October total for Derby City PCT (5N7) to give the 2006 value.   Notes:  Derby City PCT was formed in October 2006 from Central Derby PCT and Greater Derby PCT. Due to rounding, the sum of the components may not equal the totals. Children are defined as 0 to 15-year-olds, and as 16 to 18-year-olds in full-time education.  PCA Data Prescription information is taken from the Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) system, supplied by the Prescription Pricing Division (PPD) of the Business Services Authority (BSA), and is based on a full analysis of all prescriptions dispensed in the community i.e. by community pharmacists and appliance contractors, dispensing doctors, and prescriptions submitted by prescribing doctors for items personally administered in England. Also included are prescriptions written in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man but dispensed in England. The data do not cover drugs dispensed in hospitals, including mental health trusts, or private prescriptions.  Prescription Items Prescriptions are written on a prescription form. Each single item written on the form is counted as a prescription item.  Exemption Category Estimates The exemption data are identified from the box ticked on the back of the prescription form and rely on the form being completed correctly which may not always be the case. Information for categories that are not required to pay a charge (e.g. children) is based on a one in 20 sample of all exempt prescriptions dispensed by community pharmacists, appliance contractors and dispensing doctors. The information we have is therefore an estimate and subject to sampling errors. To reflect this we have rounded the exemption figures appropriately—figures less than 1,000 are shown as " * "; figures between 1,000 and 100,000 have been rounded to the nearest 1,000; figures between 100,000 and one million have been rounded to the nearest 10,000 and figures between one million and 10 million have been rounded to the nearest 100,000. Data for total of all ages have not been rounded since they are not exemption data.

Primary Care Trusts

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what powers the Government have to ensure that strategic health authorities are adequately monitoring the performance of primary care trusts in their implementation of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines.

Caroline Flint: Strategic health authorities (SHAs) performance manage primary care trusts (PCTs) in the exercise of their functions on behalf of the Secretary of State.
	The Secretary of State has the power to give directions to SHAs about their exercise of any functions under section 17 of the National Health Service Act 1977. SHAs are obliged to comply with any such Directions. If one or more SHAs were not carrying out their performance management functions adequately, then it would be open to the Secretary of State to direct those SHAs to act to ensure those functions were carried out adequately.
	In exceptional circumstances, the Secretary of State also has a power under section 84A of the National Health Service Act 1977 to make an intervention order in respect of an NHS body (including SHAs) if she is of the opinion that it is not performing one or more of its functions adequately or at all, or that there are significant failings in the way the body is being run and she is satisfied that it is appropriate for her to intervene.
	Equally, the Secretary of State has powers under section 85 of the National Health Service Act 1977 to make an order declaring an NHS body, such as an SHA, to be in default if, in her opinion, it has failed to carry out any functions conferred on it under the Act or under any regulations or directions.

Reported Accidents

John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the circumstances were which led to the reported accident near misses listed in figure 8.8 of her Department's annual report 2006.

Ivan Lewis: The circumstances that led to the reported accident near misses listed in figure 8.8 of the Department's annual report 2006 are from minor injuries sustained from slips, trips and falls.

Social Enterprise Pathfinders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social enterprise pathfinder programmes are in former mining communities.

Ivan Lewis: We have not quantified how many social enterprise pathfinders are in former mining communities.

Social Enterprise Pathfinders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what questions were asked of applications for social enterprise pathfinder programmes  (a) pre and  (b) post application.

Ivan Lewis: Upon inquiry, the Department sent potential social enterprise pathfinders an application form and covering letter, copies of which have been placed in the Library. After the completed application was received by the Department, no further questions were asked by the Department.

Social Enterprise Pathfinders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many social enterprise pathfinder programmes are exclusively in areas of multiple deprivation.

Ivan Lewis: We have not quantified how many social enterprise pathfinders are exclusively in areas of multiple deprivation. One of the features of social enterprises is the potential to deliver wider social benefits in the local community.

Social Enterprise Pathfinders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what economic modelling was used in determining the likely economic impact of social enterprise pathfinder programme allocations.

Ivan Lewis: We will be undertaking an economic assessment as part of the pathfinder evaluation programme and will publish the results of this when it is available.

Social Enterprise Pathfinders

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment of potential employer involvement was used in determining social enterprise pathfinder programme areas.

Ivan Lewis: As one of the criteria, pathfinders were assessed against whether staff had been involved, or would be involved, in contributing to the design of services.

Teenage Pregnancy: North East Region

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the rate of teenage pregnancy in  (a) Gateshead East and Washington West and  (b) Tyne and Wear constituencies was in each year since 1997.

John Healey: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 February 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the teenage pregnancy rate in (a) Gateshead East and Washington West and (b) Tyne and Wear constituencies was in each year since 1997. (118532)
	Information on teenage conceptions is routinely published for local authorities and strategic health authorities. Figures cannot be provided by Parliamentary Constituency because of the risk of disclosing individual's information, due to small differences in boundaries between the Parliamentary Constituency and the local authority.
	Figures are provided for Gateshead Metropolitan County District (MCD) and Sunderland MCD because they are both part of Gateshead East and Washington West constituency and similarly, figures are provided for Tyne and Wear Metropolitan County for Tyne and Wear constituency.
	
		
			  Teenage conceptions: numbers( 1)  and rates( 2)  for Tyne and Wear (metropolitan county), Gateshead MCD and Sunderland MCD, 1997-2004 (the latest year available) 
			   Tyne and Wear metropolitan county  Gateshead MCD  Sunderland MCD 
			   Number  Rate  Number  Rate  Number  Rate 
			 1997 1,287 62.3 202 56.4 369 65.1 
			 1998 1,203 59.0 199 57.1 357 63.1 
			 1999 1,165 57.3 182 50.7 357 63.6 
			 2000 1,121 55.1 202 56.8 290 51.0 
			 2001 1,072 52-0 152 42.3 295 51.5 
			 2002 1,128 53.7 158 44.3 320 54.9 
			 2003 1,176 55.6 175 48.6 364 62.8 
			 2004 1,088 51.8 159 44.5 294 51.7 
			 (1) Number of conceptions are estimated from registration of live or stillbirths and notifications of legal abortions to girls aged under 18. They do not include miscarriages or illegal abortions. (2) Rate per 1,000 women aged 15-17.

Tomography

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average waiting time is for MRI scans in the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospital Trust.

Andy Burnham: As at November 2006, the average (median) waiting time for a magnetic resonance imaging scan in County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals National Health Service Trust was 3.3 weeks.

Tomography

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the performance of Lodestone Ltd. in providing MRI scanning services at  (a) Darlington Memorial hospital and  (b) Bishop Auckland general hospital.

Andy Burnham: The Department has not made any specific assessment of the performance of Lodestone Ltd. in providing magnetic resonance imaging scanning services at Darlington memorial hospital and Bishop Auckland general hospital.
	The County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospitals National Health Service Trust is responsible for performance managing the service contract with this company and for flagging up any problems with the NHS North East strategic health authority (SHA). The SHA has not made the Department aware of any known problems.

Tomography

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has she made of the adequacy of MRI scanning capacity in the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospital Trust; and what she expects future capacity to be.

Andy Burnham: The planning and provision of local health care services is a matter for the national health service locally. Therefore, the Department has not made any specific assessment of the adequacy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning capacity in the County Durham and Darlington Acute Hospital Trust. The Department expects that the local NHS will ensure that there is adequate MRI scanning capacity available in the future to meet the needs of the local community.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Bankruptcy

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many cases for agreement of  (a) individual voluntary arrangements and  (b) conpany voluntary arrangements following bankruptcy orders have been heard (i) in England, (ii) in the south-east and (iii) under the jurisdiction of the Brighton Office of the Insolvency Service in each of the last five years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The number of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) and company voluntary arrangements (CVAs) for England and Wales in 2006 can be found in the following table. This information is not available at a sub-national level.
	
		
			   IVAs  CVAs 
			 2002 6,295 651 
			 2003 7,583 726 
			 2004 10,752 597 
			 2005 20,293 604 
			 2006 44,332 534

Biofuels

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what criteria will be applicable to the award of financial grants to companies from the successor to the Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme.

Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
	The third round of the Bio-energy Capital Grants Scheme, funded by DEFRA, was launched on 29 December 2006 with a 10-week application window. The aim of the Scheme is to support the installation of biomass-fuelled heat and combined heat and power projects in the industrial, commercial and community sectors. The maximum grant available is 40 per cent. of the additional cost of the installation compared to a fossil-fuelled alternative. This is subject to a minimum grant payment of £25,000 and a maximum of £1 million.
	The Scheme is competitive and each application will be assessed in terms of:
	(i) its contribution to the aims of the Scheme
	(ii) the technical credibility of the proposal
	(iii) the credibility of the applicants to deliver the project
	(iv) the ability to evaluate and measure the performance of the project
	(v) financial viability and overall value for money.

Departmental Agencies

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which  (a) agencies and  (b) regulatory bodies reporting to his Department were (i) established, (ii) abolished, (iii) merged and (iv) renamed in each year since 1999.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Employment Tribunal Service was merged into the Tribunal Service on 1 April 2006 and responsibility transferred to DCA.
	The Radiocommunications Agency was abolished in December 2003 and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) fully established as the communications regulator on 29 December 2003.
	The Competition Commission was established on 1 April 1999, having previously been known as the Monopolies and Mergers Commission.

Departmental Handbooks

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's staff handbook.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 1 February 2007
	The Department is currently reviewing and simplifying its HR policies and procedures, and over the next 18 months will be substantially revising its staff handbook, The Guide. This is accessed electronically by DTI staff through the Department's intranet. The Guide is supplemented by extensive procedural guidance and other information, again accessed electronically. A printed copy of the current version of The Guide has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Departmental Offices

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what area of office space his Department and its agencies used in central London in  (a) 2004 and  (b) 2006; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The DTI and its agencies occupied the following office space in Central London:
	92,835 square metres in 2004
	68,582 square metres in 2006

Departmental Websites

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the cost was of maintaining his Department's websites in 2005-06; and how many visits each website received during this period.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department's websites are maintained by an external ICT supplier as part of an outsourcing arrangement. The cost of website maintenance is included within the overall charges of the outsourcing contract and is not delineated within the terms of the contract.
	The total number of visits the Department's websites received during 2005-06 was 10,236,235. The total visits are recorded on entry via the DTI homepage and not at individual site level and therefore detailed information is not available.

Departmental Working Hours

Alan Duncan: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the average working hours were for staff in  (a) his Department and  (b) each of the executive agencies for which he has responsibility in each year since 2001.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The average working hours per week for staff in the Department of Trade and Industry and its executive agencies as at 31 December 2006 are :
	
		
			   Hours/week 
			 DTI 34.9 
			 Patents Office 35.3 
			 ETS 34.8 
			 INSS 35 
		
	
	The data in respect of staff in the Department and executive agencies for the years 2001 to 2005 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Flexible Working

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what estimates his Department has made of the proportion of eligible parents who are aware of their right to request flexible working;
	(2)  what steps his Department is taking to encourage individuals to exercise their right to request flexible working;
	(3)  what plans he has to extend the right of parents to request flexible working.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government encourage all types of flexible working across the workforce by providing detailed guidance, promoting the benefits and sharing best practice. We are also currently embarked on an awareness-raising campaign in relation to new family-friendly measures being introduced under the Work and Families Act 2006, including a new right to request flexible working for carers of adults.
	The Third Work-Life Balance Employees' Survey was conducted on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry in early 2006. It found that 65 per cent. of working parents with children under six years of age in Great Britain were aware of the right to request flexible working.
	From 6 April this year, we are extending the right to request—which is currently available for parents of young and disabled children—to carers of adults. We are continuing to consider the case for extending the right to parents of older children, in the light of experience of the extension of the law to carers of adults.

Glazteknology Ltd

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had on redundancy payments for workers of Glazteknology Ltd.; and what his timetable is for making a decision on the matter.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 2 February 2007
	Glazteknology Ltd. is in administration, which is a legal form of insolvency. In such situations payments of certain debts, including redundancy payments, can be claimed from the National Insurance Fund. The Insolvency Service's Edinburgh Redundancy Payments Office is liaising with the Administrator to establish what payments are due. Once the information is obtained on what payments are due they will be made without delay.

Gloucester Mail Centre

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry when he plans to close the Gloucester mail centre; what assessment he has made of the possible impact on  (a) jobs and  (b) mail services in the area of such a closure; and if he will make a statement.

Jim Fitzpatrick: This is an operational matter for which Royal Mail has direct responsibility. I have therefore asked the chief executive of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier, to provide a direct reply to the hon. Member.

Insolvency

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the waiting time is for agreement of  (a) individual voluntary arrangements and  (b) company voluntary arrangements in the case of individual insolvencies and company liquidations listed for hearing at the Insolvency Courts (i) in England and Wales, (ii) within the South East and (iii) under the jurisdiction of the Brighton Office of the Insolvency Service.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Apart from a very small number of individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) that are preceded by the court making an interim order, the process of obtaining the agreement of creditors to either an IVA or a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) does not involve any court hearing.
	The chairman of the creditors' meeting in both individual voluntary arrangements and company voluntary arrangements files a report of the outcome of the meeting at court, and in some circumstances certain persons can apply to court to challenge a decision taken at that meeting although this rarely occurs in practice.
	The following table shows the number of IVAs and CVAs for England and Wales in 2006. This information is not available at a sub-national level.
	
		
			   Number 
			  2006  
			 IVAs 44,332 
			 CVAs 534

Manufacturing Industry

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of trends in the manufacturing industry sector in Northamptonshire over the last 10 years.

Margaret Hodge: Employment studies over this period show a decline in manufacturing as a result of structural changes in the Northamptonshire and the wider UK economy. Manufacturing in Northamptonshire still represents a higher proportion of the work force than the UK average (15.9 per cent. compared to 11.2 per cent.).
	The structural changes in the Northamptonshire economy resulted in an additional 41,487 jobs since 1998, the main growth sectors being business services and jobs in education. This growth has led to unemployment levels falling from 3.7 per cent. in 1996 to 1.9 per cent. in 2006.
	The GVA (Gross Value Added) also increased by 72 per cent. between 1995 to 2004 in Northamptonshire and is above the national average at £18,298 per head (UK average £17,700).
	Manufacturing will continue to play an important part in the county's economy with the presence of award winning companies such as Timsons, Veux, Arcotronics, Krohne, Weetabix and Cummins.
	Northamptonshire is also becoming a market leader in high performance engineering around the motor sport industry, and Government, through the East Midlands Development Agency, has recently supported this growth through the development of the 30,000sq.ft Silverstone innovation centre.

Minimum Wage

James McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Government have  (a) undertaken and  (b) asked the Low Pay Commission to undertake research into the possible effect on youth unemployment of an equalisation of the minimum wage for those aged 18 to 21 years with that for those aged over 21 years.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government considered the position of 18 to 21-year-olds and undertook a range of analysis on the state of the labour market prior to the implementation of the equal treatment directive, which retained the current age bands. Data show that young workers experience substantially worse unemployment and employment rates than adults.
	The Low Pay Commission also conducts regular research on all aspects of the minimum wage. It supported the retention of the age bands, and in its 2006 report stated that
	"it was satisfied the Government intends to introduce the legislation in such a way that the rates for young people retain their viability"

Post Office Closures

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 26 January 2007,  Official Report, column 2066W, on post office closures, when he expects to announce the detailed list of posts offices to be closed.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Government expect to publish final decisions in March, following the end of its national consultation. It will then be for Post Office Ltd. to develop local area proposals in accordance with the framework set by Government.

Post Offices: Scotland

Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry whether the Scottish index for multiple deprivation will be used to calculate which post offices are in deprived urban areas in Scotland.

Jim Fitzpatrick: holding answer 2 February 2007
	DTI is in discussion with POL about how the deprived urban criteria can be applied in a consistent manner across the UK. It is envisaged that it will be based upon the most recently published indices of multiple deprivation for each country.

Regional Venture Capital Funds

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the  (a) budget and  (b) expenditure was of the Regional Venture Capital Fund Programme in each English region in each financial year since 2000-01.

Margaret Hodge: The budget, expressed as DTI commitment, and expenditure, expressed as the amounts drawn down to date, for the Regional Venture Capital Fund Programme is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  £ 
			Amounts drawn down 
			  Region  Total DTI commitment  2000-01  2001-02  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07( 1) 
			 East of England 6,000,000 — — — 600,000 1,275,000 2,500,000 1,625,000 
			 East Midlands 9,000,000 — 900,000 — 3,750,000 3,650,000 700,000 — 
			 London 15,000,000 — 450,000 1,500,000 2,400,000 5,175,000 5,925,000 — 
			 North East 4,500,000 — 750,000 1,800,000 2,250,000 — — — 
			 North West 8,875,000 — — 137,500 3,300,000 4,050,000 637,500 — 
			 South East 7,500,000 — — 3,250,000 4,250,000 — — — 
			 South West 7,500,000 — — 750,000 500,000 900,000 1,900,000 2,250,000 
			 West Midlands 6,000,000 — — 600,000 2,250,000 2,500,000 650,000 — 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 10,000,000 — — 1,000,000 300,000 2,525,000 2,750,000 850,000 
			 Total 74,375,000 0 2,100,000 9,037,500 19,600,000 20,075,000 15,062,500 4,725,000 
			 (1 )To date.

Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what proportion of businesses awarded loans under the Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme in 2004-05 were more than five years old.

Margaret Hodge: Up to one third of the businesses that had new borrowing guaranteed by the Small Firms Loan Guarantee (SFLG) in 2004-05 were over five years old.
	The SFLG eligibility criteria applicable in 2004-05 did not include an upper limit on age and the way in which age-related information was collected means that it is not possible to establish the exact age of every borrowing business.
	A detailed review of a sample of 2004-05 loans established that 68 per cent. had definitely been incorporated for less than five years, 18 per cent. had been operating for more than five years and for the remaining 14 per cent. it was not possible to ascertain from the information held how that loan would have been treated under the new eligibility criteria introduced on 1 December 2005.

Trade Unions: Finance

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the estimated expenditure is on the Trade Union Modernisation Fund over the lifetime of the fund.

Jim Fitzpatrick: Between £5 to £10 million has been set aside for the Union Modernisation Fund.

Trade Unions: Finance

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 816W, on trade union funding, what the  (a) amount and  (b) purpose was of each grant.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Purpose  Amount given (£) 
			 Partnership Fund(1) 26,559.50 
			 Partnership Fund 24,102.38 
			 Strategic Partnership Fund(2) 298,974.18 
			 Partnership Fund 249,405.00 
			 Partnership Fund 3,880.40 
			 Partnership Fund 27,580.00 
			 Strategic Partnership Fund 219,871.00 
			 Strategic Partnership Fund 46,814.87 
			 Partnership Fund 47,985.32 
			 Strategic Partnership Fund 68,000.00 
			 Partnership Fund 6,573.00 
			 Strategic Partnership Fund 141,500.00 
			 Union Modernisation Fund(3) 23,340.53 
			 Union Modernisation Fund(3) 12,252.64 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 7,377.84 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 43,329.35 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 7,083.30 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 24,330.00 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 8,125.65 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 6,047.75 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 28,647.63 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 104,011.73 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 32,489.00 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 11,475.34 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 13,232.25 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 23,284.48 
			 Union Modernisation Fund 6,070.70 
			 (1 )The Partnership at Work Fund was a Government grant scheme established by the DTI created in 1999 to encourage the development of industrial relations by encouraging employers and employees to work together effectively. The Partnership at Work Fund supported partnership projects within individual organisations. The fund is now closed. (2 )The Partnership at Work Fund supported partnership projects within individual organisations. Strategic Partnership projects reach out beyond single company projects to assess sectoral and regional issues. (3 )The Union Modernisation Fund provides financial assistance to independent trade unions and their federations in support of innovative projects, which contribute to, or explore the potential for, transformational change in the organisational effectiveness of efficiency of a union or unions, in the light of the changing needs, aspirations and behaviour of workers and employers in the changing UK labour market.

Trade Unions: Finance

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to the answer of 15 January 2007,  Official Report, column 816W, on trade union funding, how much is expected to be given to trade union led projects in  (a) the remainder of the 2006-07 financial year and  (b) 2007-08.

Jim Fitzpatrick: £745,673 is expected to become payable to trade unions in the remainder of the 2006-07 financial year and £1,696,642 for 2007-08.

TREASURY

Departmental Expenditure

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much his Department spent on external media trainers in each of the last 12 months, broken down by supplier.

John Healey: Media training is not recorded as a separate category either of expenditure or supplier, so the information on such spending, if any, is not held.

Departmental Projects

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 17 January 2007,  Official Report, column 1134W, on Departmental Projects, which individuals have given  (a) donations and  (b) bequests to the Treasury that have exceeded £100,000 since 2001-02.

John Healey: In 2005-06 the Treasury received one bequest of £715,000 and one to date in 2006-07 of £105,000. I am not aware of any other bequests or any donations over £100,000 being received since 2001-02. The names of the individuals is personal information under the Data Protection Act. Bequests are passed on to the Consolidated Fund and are not used to finance the Treasury's departmental spending.

Departmental Publications

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was spent on the production of the Treasury staff magazine in  (a) 2004-05,  (b) 2005-06 and  (c) 2006-07.

John Healey: The production cost of the monthly Treasury staff magazine was £18,183 in 2004-05, £12,651 in 2005-06 and £7,531 to date in 2006-07.

Departmental Publications

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of the last 12 months' editions of his Department's staff magazine.

John Healey: The Treasury staff magazine is mainly written by Treasury staff for the benefit of other staff and it contains the personal data of Treasury staff and their families, and visitors to the Treasury. To obtain the consent of everyone who appears in these editions would incur disproportionate cost.

Emigration

Alan Meale: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people from the UK are estimated to have emigrated in each of the last five years.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 February 2007:
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question regarding how many people from the UK are estimated to have emigrated in each of the last five years. (119064)
	The figures shown below are for all citizenships 2001-2005, which are the most recent years for which data are available:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2001 308,000 
			 2002 359,000 
			 2003 362,000 
			 2004 359,000 
			 2005 380,000 
		
	
	These figures are also shown in Table 1 of the November 2006 International Migration press release:
	http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pdfdir/intmigrat1106.pdf

Engagements

George Galloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what dates Ministers in his Department made official visits to the London borough of  (a) Tower Hamlets,  (b) Newham and  (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997.

John Healey: Treasury Ministers' official duties entail visits throughout the United Kingdom.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Mark Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue would have been raised in the last year for which information is available if  (a) rail services fuel,  (b) bus services fuel and  (c) airline fuel bore the rate of duty and other taxes levied on fuel for passenger cars.

John Healey: The Government do not accept such direct comparisons as valid as they assume no change in demand or the working practices of the aviation industry, nor does the Government have an objective of equalising the tax treatment across transport modes or other sectors, so does not regard such figures as relevant to judgments on the taxation of aviation.

HM Revenue and Customs

Mark Francois: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what average time HM Revenue and Customs took to respond to a taxpayer's letter in the latest period for which figures are available.

Dawn Primarolo: The information is not available in the format requested and could be collated and provided only at disproportionate cost.

HM Revenue and Customs

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer in how many  (a) ports,  (b) airports,  (c) landing stages and  (d) airfields HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) officers were (i) permanently and (ii) regularly located in (A) 2004, (B) 2005 and (C) 2006; and in how many such locations HMRC officers made at least one visit in each year.

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs had staff officially based within dock or airport areas in the following number of locations
	
		
			  As at April:  Ports  Airports 
			 2004 41 16 
			 2005 40 18 
			 2006 39 18 
		
	
	We do not centrally record the number of ports, airports, landing stages and airfields visited by HMRC officers.

Households

David Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the  (a) mean and  (b) median household size was of households where the head of the household was aged (i) 18 to 25, (ii) 25 to 30 and (iii) 18 to 30 years old in (A) 1985, (B) 1990, (C) 1995, (D) 2000 and (E) 2005;
	(2)  where the head of the household was a citizen of a recently acceding EU country in the most recent period for which figures are available;
	(3)  where the head of the household was aged (i) 30 to 40, (ii) 40 to 50, (iii) 50 to 60, (iv) 60 to 70 and (v) 70 and over in (A) 1985, (B) 1990, (C) 1995, (D) 2000 and (E) 2005.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5 February 2007:
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your requests for the (a) mean and (b) median household size by specified age groups of the head of the household in the years 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005, and where the head of the household was a citizen of a recently acceding EU country in the most recent period for which figures are available. (117851, 117853, 117854).
	Household Reference Person replaced the concept of Head of Household in 2001. For consistency all figures in this reply relate to the Household Reference Person.
	The information requested by age is readily available for the years 2000, 2005 and the most recent period (2006). These figures are provided in the table below. Figures for earlier years could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  Mean and median household size by age group of household reference person (HRP), United Kingdom, 2000, 2005 and 2006 
			   2000  2005  2006 
			  Age group of HRP  Mean  Median  Mean   Median  Mean  Median 
			 18 to 24 2.2 2 2.2 2 2.3 2 
			 25 to 29 2.4 2 2.3 2 2.4 2 
			 18 to 29 2.3 2 2.3 2 2.4 2 
			 30 to 39 3.0 3 2.9 3 2.9 3 
			 40 to 49 3.1 3 3.1 3 3.0 3 
			 50 to 59 2.4 2 2.3 2 2.3 2 
			 60 to 69 1.9 2 1.8 2 1.8 2 
			 70 and over 1.5 1 1.5 1 1.5 1 
			 All ages 18 and over 2.4 2 2.4 2 2.4 2 
			  Source: LFS 2000 and 2005 summer quarter, 2006 first quarter. All figures are population weighted. 
		
	
	Information is available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) on self reported nationality, but not on citizenship.
	Where the household reference persons reported that they were a national of one of the ten countries that acceded to the EU in 2004 or of Bulgaria or Romania (the January 2007 accession countries), the mean household size was 3.0 and the median was 3.

Income Tax: Stroud

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people from Stroud constituency filed income tax returns for annual income  (a) between £500,000 and £999,999 and  (b) greater than £1 million in each of the last three years.

Dawn Primarolo: The available estimates of the distribution of income tax liabilities at regional level can be found in table 3.11, "Income and tax, by gender, region and country" on the HM Revenue and Customs' website at
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/income_distribution/menu-by-year.htm#315.
	More detailed breakdowns are not available due to small sample sizes at constituency level.

India

Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the economic relationship between the UK and India.

John Healey: The economic relationship between the UK and India is stronger than ever, building on the close cultural and family ties between our two nations:
	Trade between our two nations is now worth £8 billion—growing at over 20 per cent. a year—and has doubled over the last five years;
	500 Indian companies operate in Britain, and almost 50 Indian companies are listed or trading actively on the London stock exchange;
	The UK is the fifth largest investor in India, and India is the third largest investor in Britain. 60 per cent. of Indian FDI into Europe comes to Britain.
	With the Indian economy growing at more than 8 per cent., the links with the UK are proving to be an increasing source of prosperity for both our countries.

Inflation

Alan Duncan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what weighting for electrical goods is used by the Office for National Statistics when it calculates  (a) the Consumer Prices Index and  (b) the Retail Prices Index.

John Healey: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
	 Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 5( th) February 2007.
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question: what weighting for electrical goods is used by the Office of National Statistics when it calculates (a) the Consumer Price Index and (b) the Retail Price Index?(118918)
	The table below shows the weighting in 2006 of electrical goods (as a percentage) within three categories of expenditure, in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) and Consumer Prices Index (CPI), alongside their respective price indicators.
	
		
			  Percentage 
			  Category  Weight in RPI  Weight in CPI  Indicators 
			 Electrical appliances 0.80 1.09 Cooker—electric, Washing machine, Fridge/freezer, Microwave oven, Dishwasher, Vacuum cleaner, Cordless telephone handsets, Mobile phone handsets, Electric shower, Selected small appliances—eg iron, kettle, fan heater, Personal appliances—eg hair dryer, electric razor 
			 Audio-visual equipment 0.90 1.10 Colour televisions—including widescreen, portable and flat panel sets, Video recorder, Portable CD/radio cassette player, Personal MP3 player, Audio systems, DVD player, Car CD/radio, PCs—desktop and laptop, PC peripherals 
			 Other 0.69 1.10 Power points, Power tools—eg hammer drill, Table lamp, Light bulbs, Car batteries, Computer game consoles, Digital camera, Digital camcorders, Other cameras—including disposable, Lawnmowers 
			 Total 2.39 3.28

Inheritance Tax: Stroud

David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people from Stroud constituency filed inheritance tax returns for amounts  (a) between £500,000 and £999,999 and  (b) greater than £1 million in each of the last three years.

Dawn Primarolo: Figures for estates assessed for inheritance tax are not available at local levels.

Minimum Wage

Mary Creagh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how statistical data on the  (a) receipt and  (b) enforcement of the national minimum wage is (i) collected and (ii) held.

Dawn Primarolo: Estimates of the number of people in low-paid jobs, and specifically those paid less than the national minimum wage, are published by the Office for National Statistics annually in October.
	From 2004, the estimates have been based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE). This survey replaced the New Earnings Survey (NES) and has been designed to provide better information about the low end of the pay distribution. The ASHE includes imputation of missing earnings and hours information in individual questionnaires, and weighting by categories defined by age band, gender, occupation and region. It also introduces additional samples likely to include a higher proportion of low paid employees. These samples are drawn from employees who moved jobs or entered the labour market between February and April, who would not have been identified for the New Earnings Survey because of the timing of the survey procedures.
	The ONS publishes tables on the National Statistics website showing the number of UK jobs from 1998 onwards paid below the minimum wage for those aged 18 to 21 and those aged 22 and over, by age, gender, full-time or part-time work, industry sector, Government office region and occupation. From 2005, estimates of the number of 16 to 17-year-olds paid below the national minimum wage have also been published.
	The statistical data on enforcement of the minimum wage are collected centrally through information received during inquiries into employers at risk of not paying the national minimum wage. The statistical data are held by reference to the team that is conducting the inquiry or by DTI region.

Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date he expects HM Revenue and Customs to publish the tax credit overpayment figures for the 2005-06; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The National Statistics release "Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics. Finalised Awards 2005-06. Supplement on Payments in 2005-06", which includes information on overpayment of tax credits in 2005-06, will be available in May 2007, as stated in the HMRC Updating Plan, which is available on the HMRC website at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/updates/index.htm.

Tax Credits

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effects of the recovery of overpaid tax credits on levels of personal debt amongst people in the bottom three deciles of income distribution; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.
	HMRC's policy on recovery of tax credits overpayments is set out in their Code of Practice 26, "What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?"

Tax Credits

Stephen Hepburn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many people claimed child tax credits in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) the UK in each year since 1997;
	(2)  how many people claimed working tax credits in  (a) Jarrow constituency,  (b) South Tyneside,  (c) the North East and  (d) the UK in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) on 7 December 2006,  Official Report, column 1748W.

Taxation: Pensioners

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the income tax threshold for a  (a) single and  (b) married couple pensioner household (i) was in 1997 and (ii) is in 2006-07.

Dawn Primarolo: The answer is provided in the following table. Tax thresholds are the point at which income exceeds personal allowances. Individual spouses and civil partners are taxed separately and not as a household. The additional tax relief that is available for older pensioner married or civil partner couples reduces the tax liability of the spouse or civil partner who claims it. The amount depends on the age of the older partner and income of the claimant.
	
		
			  £ 
			   1997-98  2006-07 
			 Personal allowance under 65 4,045 5,035 
			 Personal allowance aged 65 to 74 (a) 5,220 7,280 
			 Personal allowance aged 75 and over(1) 5,440 7,420 
			 Married couple where older aged 65 to 74(2) 3,185 — 
			 Married couple where one aged over 75(2) 3,225 — 
			 Married or civil partnership couple where one of the couple born before 6 April 1935 but under 75(3) — 6,065 
			 Married or civil partnership couple where one of the couple born before 6 April 1935 and aged 75 and over(3) — 6,135 
			 Minimum level of Married Couple's Allowance(4) (2)1,830 (3)2,350 
			 Income limit(4) 15,600 20,100 
			 (1) Every individual receives a personal allowance to set against their own taxable income. In a married couple or civil partner household both individuals receive a personal allowance but any unused amount cannot be transferred between the couple. (2) Allowance given at a flat rate of 15 per cent. from the claimant's liability. (3) Allowance given at a flat rate of 10 per cent. from the claimant's liability. (4) The allowances for those 65 and over are reduced where the claimant's income exceeds the income limit. The personal allowance is not reduced below the level of the basic personal allowance and the married couple's allowance is not reduced below the minimum amount.

VAT: Food

Si�n James: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the charging of VAT on food at motorway service station restaurant outlets;
	(2)  what legislation applies to the  (a) charging of VAT on food and  (b) provision of information on VAT charging on menus and in-house advertisements by food retail outlets.

Dawn Primarolo: Supplies of food are VAT zero-rated unless otherwise specified in Group 1, Schedule 8 of the VAT Act 1994.
	Supplies in the course of catering are excluded from the zero rate. These take place when food is supplied for consumption on the premises on which it is sold, and when food is sold to be eaten hot. Therefore VAT is chargeable on all food sold for consumption in motorway service station restaurants, as well as on all hot take-away food sold in motorway service stations.
	The Price Marking (Food and Drink Services) Order 2003 requires restaurants, pubs and similar establishments to provide certain information to customers on menus and price lists. The Order also requires that an indication of the price of food (or of a charge payable in addition to the price of any food) which is subject to VAT shall be inclusive of the tax.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what proportion of tax credit overpayments have involved one or more errors by HM Revenue and Customs; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many tax credit overpayments have been caused by  (a) an individual's income being incorrectly recorded by HM Revenue and Customs as zero and  (b) IT failure; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The information requested is not available.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new affordable houses were built in Essex in each of the past five years.

Yvette Cooper: The numbers of affordable housing units built in Essex in each of the past five years are tabulated. Affordable housing includes both social rent and low-cost home ownership. Some affordable housing units are provided through the acquisition and refurbishment of dwellings purchased on the open market and these figures are also shown.
	This includes Basildon, Braintree, Brentwood, Castle Point, Chelmsford, Colchester, Epping Forest, Harlow, Maldon, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea (Unitary), Tendring, Thurrock (Unitary) and Uttlesford.
	
		
			  Affordable housing units provided: Essex 
			   New build  Acquisition  Total 
			 2001-02 698 133 831 
			 2002-03 532 316 848 
			 2003-04 365 463 828 
			 2004-05 545 302 847 
			 2005-06 1,078 361 1,439

British Food

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of food served in buildings occupied by her Department was of British origin in  (a) 2005 and  (b) 2006.

Angela Smith: The percentage of food of British origin in the Communities and Local Government restaurants in the headquarters buildings and agencies are:
	
		
			   Eland house and Ashdown house  Fire service college  QE2 conference centre 
			  Item  2005  2006  2005  2006  2005  2006 
			 Eggs 100 100 100 100 100 100 
			 Milk products 95 95 100 100 100 100 
			 Cheeses 50 60 50 50 40 40 
			 Root vegetables 65 75 90 95 100 100 
			 Salad vegetables 5 10 35 40 75 75 
			 Fruit 5 10 20 25 40 40 
			 Fish 70 65 15 15 80 80 
			 Bakery products 80 80 85 85 100 100 
			 Chicken 50 50 50 50 100 100 
			 Beef 85 95 95 95 100 100 
			 Lamb 95 95 0 0 100 100 
			 Bacon 45 45 0 0 80 80 
			 Pork 100 100 100 100 100 100 
		
	
	This answer does not include the Government Offices, who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments, or the Planning Inspectorate who do not retain this information.

Communities England

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Supporting People Programme will continue under Communities England.

Phil Woolas: Supporting People Funding is provided directly to local authorities. There are no plans for the Supporting People Programme to be affected by the creation of Communities England. Communities England is expected to assume the responsibility of the Housing Corporation for providing capital investment for supported housing projects.

Departmental Photographs

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister spent on photography in 2005-06.

Angela Smith: Records of spend on photography were not held centrally by the Department and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Travel

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Department's expenditure on foreign travel, including accommodation, was in 1996-97.

Angela Smith: As there have been significant changes in departmental responsibilities since 1996-97 the information requested is not complete.
	I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Shipley (Philip Davies) on 16 June 2006,  Official Report, column 1459W.

Disabled Facilities Grant

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much in matched funding Bassetlaw district council reported to her Department on the disabled facilities grant annual claim form in each of the last five years; and how much the council claimed from the Government in each year.

Yvette Cooper: holding answer 26 January 2007
	The following table details Bassetlaw district council's last five years, grant claims for central Government funding (60 per cent.) and their matched funding (40 per cent.). The most recent available data are from 2005-06.
	
		
			   
			   Match funding  Central Government funding 
			 2001-02 81,737 122,606 
			 2002-03 53,948 80,923 
			 2003-04 109,436 164,154 
			 2004-05 100,740 151,110 
			 2005-06 172,667 259,000

Discrimination

Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the consultation paper following the Discrimination Law Review will be published.

Phil Woolas: The proposals emerging from the Discrimination Law Review will be published in a Green Paper for public consultation, shortly.

Domestic Violence

Don Touhig: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of people made homeless in England and Wales as a direct result of domestic violence in each of the past five years.

Yvette Cooper: Information about English local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected by the Department in respect of households (rather than people), at local authority level and on a quarterly basis. The Department does not hold statistics for the devolved administrations.
	Households who are accepted by English local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need are owed a main homelessness duty by the local authority.
	Data on these acceptances are published in a quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness. Table 4 of the release shows a breakdown of acceptances by priority need category, which includes domestic violence. Table 5 shows a breakdown of acceptances by reason for loss of last settled home, which includes violent relationship breakdown with partner.
	The release is published on our website each quarter. The latest, July to September 2006, can be found at the following address:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id-1002882PressNoticeID-2309
	It includes data for the last five years. A copy of this release can also be found in the Library.
	The Government are committed to tackling and preventing the underlying causes of homelessness, including domestic violence, and have recently published guidance encouraging local authorities to set up sanctuary schemes to enable victims of domestic violence to remain in their own accommodation, where it is safe for them to do so, where it is their choice and where the perpetrator no longer lives in the accommodation.

Equality

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether draft equality legislation or proposals will be presented for scrutiny to the Communities and Local Government Committee.

Phil Woolas: The Communities and Local Government Committee will have the opportunity to comment on our proposals to provide protection from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of goods, facilities and services; in respect of premises; and in the work of public authorities later this month, when we publish the response to the Getting Equal consultation. Subject to parliamentary approval, we intend to bring the regulations into effect this April, alongside commencement of the provisions on Religion or Belief contained within Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006.
	The Committee will also have the opportunity to comment on the proposals emerging from the Discrimination Law Review which will be published in a Green Paper for public consultation, shortly.

Family Breakdown

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how she measures the extent of family breakdown in the context of her policies on community cohesion; whether figures on family breakdown are collected by  (a) region and  (b) local authority area; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: The Government do not collect statistics on numbers of family breakdowns outside of divorce, given that relationship breakdowns outside of divorce are difficult to define and record. Community cohesion measurements primarily focus on how well people from different backgrounds get on together in the local area. The Commission on Integration and Cohesion, which will make recommendations in June, has been tasked with looking at practical ways to improve community cohesion.

Fire Service

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the potential impact of  (a) terrorism and  (b) climate change was considered in the development of the Online Business Case for the Fire Control Project.

Angela Smith: The draft Business Case acknowledges that in recent years, the scale and nature of incidents to which the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS) have responded has grown as a result of both terrorist activity and climate change. The FiReControl project aims to enhance the capacity of the FRS' to respond to any incident from house fires to national emergencies.

Housing

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision there was of  (a) social housing and  (b) affordable housing in the West Lancashire constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: Information specific to the West Lancashire constituency is not held centrally. The stock of social rent housing in the West Lancashire district in each of the last 10 years can be found on the Communities and Local Government website:
	 Registered Social Landlords
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/21/Tablel15_ idl156021.xls
	 Local authorities
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/22/Tablel16_idl156022.xls
	A copy of the tables has been placed in the Library of the House.
	Housing provided for social rent makes up part of the affordable housing supply with other dwellings being provided through low cost home ownership schemes. In the last 10 years 42 affordable dwellings have been provided in the West Lancashire local authority area through low cost home ownership schemes.

Housing

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what temporary housing provision was made available to the homeless in the West Lancashire constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. The constituency of West Lancashire is contained wholly within West Lancashire district council, which also contains part of the South Ribble constituency.
	Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, and the types of temporary accommodation. The figures include both those households who have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and those for which inquiries are pending.
	Data are published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness, which includes a Supplementary Table showing the breakdown of key data, including temporary accommodation and type, by each local authority. These are published on our website each quarter (the latestJuly to September 2006can be found at the following address:
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/60/Supplementarytables_id1505060.xls)
	the tables have also been placed in the Library over the last 10 years.
	Data provided include the total number in temporary accommodation for each year, broken down between bed and breakfast, hostel, local authority/Registered Social Landlord stock, private sector leased and other types of housing.
	A summary table showing the total number of households in temporary accommodation, from 1997-98 to 2005-06, for each local authority (including West Lancashire) is available in the Library of the House.
	In January 2005 the Government set a target of halving the number of households in all forms of temporary accommodation used by local authorities to discharge their main duty under the homelessness legislation.

Housing

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision there was of  (a) social housing and  (b) affordable housing in Chorley constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Yvette Cooper: Information on the stock of social rent housing by local authority area in each of the last 10 years can be found on the Communities and Local Government website:
	 Registered social landlords
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/21/Tablel15_idl156021.xls
	 Local authorities
	http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/22/Tablel16_idl156022.xls
	A copy of the tables have been placed in the Library of the House.
	Housing provided for social rent makes up part of the affordable housing supply with other dwellings being provided through low cost home ownership schemes. In the last 10 years 216 new affordable dwellings have been provided in Chorley through low cost home ownership schemes.

Key Workers Living Scheme

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many participants there have been in the key workers living scheme in each month since its implementation, broken down by London borough.

Yvette Cooper: A table has been placed in the Library of the House displaying information on the number of key workers helped through the Key Worker Living (KWL) programme in each month since its implementation, broken down by London borough. These data are taken from the Housing Corporation's payment system. From April 2004 to December 2006, 5,637 key workers in London have received assistance through the KWL programme.

Local Area Agreements

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to specify a role for alcohol reduction strategies in local area agreements.

Phil Woolas: The Government are committed to reducing the harm caused by alcohol misuse. Some areas have found producing an alcohol harm reduction strategy helpful as part of their wider drugs and misuse plans but the Government have no plans to introduce a formal requirement for these. We will want to ensure that where Local Area Agreements can contribute to the delivery of the Government's and local areas' response to alcohol misuse, including alcohol harm reduction strategies, they do so. Many local areas have already chosen to include targets including stretch targets relating to alcohol misuse in their Local Area Agreements. Local Area Agreements have also facilitated enhanced partnership working between local bodies of the type that is necessary to ensure that there is a comprehensive response to alcohol misuse. The duties on local authorities and their local partners proposed in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill will further facilitate such joint working, including by making Local Area Agreements the single mechanism for central and local government to agree targets to reflect the key priorities for improvement in each local area.

Local Enterprise Growth Initiative

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what advice her Department gives to those local authorities whose bids for second round Local Enterprise Growth Initiative funding were unsuccessful;
	(2)  what the reasons were for the rejection of each unsuccessful local authority bid for funding under the second round of the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative.

Phil Woolas: The resources available for the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) were only sufficient to support a small proportion of the bids received. A national panel made up of senior civil servants and two people from the private sector interviewed the promoters of the bids that they judged strongest on paper, and then recommended which bids Ministers should agree to support. Ministers accepted the panel's recommendations. Bids were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons and the panel has offered to provide feedback to unsuccessful bidders whom they met. Other unsuccessful bidders are receiving feedback from Government offices. The feedback is aimed at giving authorities a clear idea about any gaps in their analysis, strategy or delivery plans with the aim of helping them to prepare for any future bidding round.

Local Government

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take action to eliminate or reduce the impact on local government resource allocated of the floor damping block mechanism, with specific reference to the impact on Hartlepool Borough Council.

Phil Woolas: The formula grant damping is an integral part of the system and hence will not be removed. I will decide the level of the floor for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 in due course. I am pleased to note that Hartlepool will receive a grant increase of 4.4 per cent. in 2007-08.

Local Government: Pay

Chris Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has for bringing forward legislation to deal with the impact of single status and equal pay claims on local government; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: We have recently consulted on a proposed change to the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003 which would allow local authorities greater flexibility in managing their financial liabilities relating to equal pay. This amendment would allow authorities to defer making financial provision for anticipated liabilities arising from equal pay back pay until the date on which the local authority must make the back payments rather than as soon as they can be reliably estimated, which accounting practices currently require. I am pleased to announce our intention to make this amendment in the current financial year. It is proposed that this new regulation would apply until the end of March 2011.

Lyons Review

Eric Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to publish a  (a) Green and  (b) White Paper on local government following the publication of the Lyons Inquiry into local government.

Phil Woolas: Sir Michael Lyons's report will be published around the time of Budget 2007. His work will inform the comprehensive Spending Review 2007. Decisions on the Government's response will be taken in light of the report.

Market Renewal Pathfinders Fund

Oliver Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will break down by programme the expenditure on the Market Renewal Pathfinders Fund initiative in the  (a) Yorkshire and Humberside,  (b) North East,  (c) North West and  (d) West Midlands region in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Yvette Cooper: The following table shows the amount of Housing Market Renewal funding paid to each region and pathfinder in 2005-06.
	
		
			  Pathfinders by region  Housing Market Renewal funding 2005-06 ( million) 
			  Yorkshire and Humber 45.4 
			 Hull and East Riding 8.7 
			 South Yorkshire 36.7 
			   
			  North East 31.9 
			 Newcastle Gateshead 31.9 
			   
			  North West 176.6 
			 Manchester Salford 51.2 
			 Oldham Rochdale 30.5 
			 East Lancashire 43.2 
			 Merseyside 51.7 
			   
			  West Midlands 49.3 
			 Birmingham Sandwell 30.0 
			 North Staffordshire 19.3

Royal Mail

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent using Royal Mail in each of the last five years.

Angela Smith: Communities and Local Government was created on 5 May 2006. The information in the following table covers the period from May 2002 to December 2006, and thus includes data for CLG's predecessor department, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
	
		
			  Royal Mail costs 
			   
			   CLG/ODPM  Agencies 
			 May 2002 to March 2003 297,847 667,605 
			 April 2003 to March 2004 300,713 649,074 
			 April 2004 to March 2005 978,706 323,792 
			 April 2005 to March 2006 86,371 364,739 
			 April 2006 to December 2006 78,747 212,193 
		
	
	As information for the period from March 2001 to April 2002 would relate to the former Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions and is not held centrally it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	This answer does not include the Government Offices who carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.

Social Housing

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of the impact on social cohesion of social housing; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: Communities and Local Government is currently engaged in examining the means by which we monitor the impact of policies on cohesion, including those relating to social housing. This builds on the existing evidence base. For example, recently published evaluations of choice-based lettings schemes have shown that choice tends to result in more dispersednot more concentratedpatterns of lettings involving minority ethnic households.
	The role of local authorities and housing associations in contributing to community cohesion is one of several matters being considered by the independent Commission on Integration and Cohesion, which is due to report in June 2007.

Social Housing

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of all social housing starts in each English region have been three bed units or larger in each of the last 15 years.

Yvette Cooper: The following table shows the percentage of social rented homes of three bed units and larger approved through the Housing Corporation's affordable housing programme in each region for the last three years and estimates for 2006-08.
	
		
			  Percentage 
			  Region Name  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-08 
			 East Midlands 29 24 33 31 
			 Eastern 39 26 31 28 
			 London 32 29 28 34 
			 North East 18 33 39 34 
			 North West 37 30 35 40 
			 South East 30 20 21 21 
			 South West 37 33 37 26 
			 West Midlands 42 35 50 35 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 36 35 53 45 
		
	
	Information prior to 2003-04 was not collected in this format.

Social Housing

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what mechanisms are in place to ensure that Professor Morton Cave's review of social housing regulation follows the Cabinet Office guidelines for consultations; and if she will extend the deadline for submissions.

Yvette Cooper: Independent reviews, such as Professor Martin Cave's review of social housing regulation, are not covered by the Cabinet Office's code of practice on consultation.
	As Professor Cave is working to a very tight timetable, it is not possible to extend the deadline of 16 February for submissions. However, it is proposed that any changes to the regulatory system following the publication of Professor Cave's report should also be subject to consultation.

Sustainable Communities

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she is taking to promote sustainable communities in rural areas; and if she will make a statement.

Phil Woolas: The Government's 2003 sustainable communities plan sets out an action plan to create successful, thriving and inclusive communities, urban and rural, across England. In addition, the Government's 'Rural Strategy', published in 2004, sets a clear vision for bringing about sustainable rural communities. It aims to achieve social justice, economic and social regeneration and an enhanced rural environment in the English countryside. It describes how we will place communities and their needs at the heart of rural regeneration, with services delivered in a way that is responsive to local people and focused on need. Copies are available in the Library of the House.

Sustainable Communities

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which organisations have written to her Department  (a) in support of and  (b) opposed to the Sustainable Communities Bill.

Phil Woolas: We have received correspondence expressing support for the Sustainable Communities Bill from a range of organisations, including members of the Local Works Campaign and local authorities who have backed the campaign.